STORM IN TASMAN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27391, 17 May 1950, Page 6

STORM IN TASMAN

Calm Seas In Spite Of Gale MONQWAI’S EXPERIENCE PA WELLINGTON, May 16. The liner Monowai. which reached Wellington this morning, encountered a freak cyclone in mid-Tasman on her way from Sydney. The storm was described on the ship’s arrival by her master, Captain G. B. Morgan. “On Sunday, we approached the centre of a depression,” he said. “ The flass dropped suddenly from 29.50 in to B.Boin, which is very low. We were prepared for trouble, when about 6 p.m. we struck a southerly wind of about 50 knots. In mid-ocean, a wind of this force usually raises seas like mountains, but strangely,' with this wind, the sea was comparatively calm. “By 8 p.m. we had entered the centre of the cyclone,” Captain Morgan said, “ and the wind dropped right away. Then, at 10 p.m., it started to blow again, this time from precisely the opposite direction. We had run into the other side of the circular storm, but again there was no sea with it and by midnight it was all over. “The unusual occurrence was prob- . ably due to a very small area covered by this particular cyclone,” said Captain Morgan. “ From weather reports, we gauged its size as about 100 miles across. Over this distance, the wind could not raise great seas and this was the only thing which saved the ship from a real buffeting. In May last year we ran into a similar depression, and although the glass did not fall so low, the gale raised seas like mountains.” Passengers said the voyage was comparatively calm.”