FURIOUS STORM IN THE ATLANTIC.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13455, 29 April 1914, Page 8

FURIOUS STORM IN THE ATLANTIC.

FALL OF A METEOR

The Red Star liner Lapknd^nd the Anchor liner Columbia, which arrived at New York on February 18, brought new evidence of the fearful conditions which prevailed in the Atlantic Ocean <luring the week. At the height of a hurricane, accompanied by sleet, a meteor burst at 9.30 p.m. on February 13th alongside the Lapland. Captain Bradshaw describes the occurrence as follows: —

"I was on the bridge, and saw a tremendous ball of fire coming through the storm. It exploded 200 feet from the ship, and the air seemed filled with Ere for a fraction of a second. The Lapland's superstructure was lighted up, and then all was darkness. The meteor burst with a roar like a cannon. F thought my last hour had come."1

Captain Black, of the Columbia; was on the bridge for sixty hours. On Thursday afternoon the Columbia seemed to be in the vortex of the tempest, and was compelled to heave to for an hour. Captain Black says :—

"I never knew a wind of such velocity change directions so swiftly. It blew so hard at the height of the storm that it started the ship's whistle. It seemed like a riot of the elements."

Passengers on the Columbia say that Captain Black saved the ship by stopping. The^wind was blowing 120 miles an hour, when it suddenly shifted to starboard. Mountainous waves were pounding the ship on the port quarter. There were 500 passengers on board, and for one entire night not one of them dared retire owing to the fury of the gale and the sea, which threatened at any time to sink the ship. They spent the whole, night in anxious watching and in prayer. For two days Mr. Jones, one of the two wireless operators, was a prisoner in the wireless cabin. His assistant, Mr Herbert, was almost killed in trying to go to his relief. Miss Denny, of Dumbarton, says that the vessel did everything but turn over. The gale was so strong that it broke down the crests of the waves and made the surface of the water almost smooth. For hours the vessel scarcely made a single knot.