Part 22 (2/2)

On August 26, 1900, the steamer _Numidie_, sailing from Bone, was struck by lightning. The fluid fell on the mizzen-mast, and went down the standing jib, to which the second officer was clinging. The unfortunate man had had both his hands paralyzed and fallen; but if he had fallen on the outside of the draille, death would have been inevitable.

The _Rodney_ was under weigh before Syracuse when it was struck. This was on December 7, 1838. The top-gallant-mast went first; it weighed eight hundred pounds, and such was the violence of the stroke that it was instantly reduced to shavings, which hung the whole length of the vessel, like rubbish in a carpenter's shop. The topmast was very much damaged and shattered here and there. As for the mainmast, with its ironwork weighing more than a ton, it was wrecked for a length of some seventeen metres.

At times the masts are split from top to bottom, broken or cut transversely in fragments, and flung to a distance. Sometimes they are planed, like the beams and trees of which we have already spoken.

The _Blake_ was struck by lightning in 1812. The top-gallant-mast was in green pine, which was split into long fibres in every direction, like branches of a tree.

It is not unusual for lightning to creep into the heart of a mast and do it all kinds of injuries, without in any way hurting the outside; in a word, there may be single or double furrows, longitudinal or zigzag, sometimes curved, and of varying depth. Sometimes also, the electric current, far more powerful than the blast of the wind, seizes the rigging and carries it off. This phenomenon was observed on the _Clenker_, December 31, 1828; the topmast and sails were torn off and thrown into the water. Neither are the sails spared by the terrible meteor; they are torn, riddled with holes, or set on fire. But as a rule the yards are spared.

One of the most frightful effects of thunder on s.h.i.+ps is fire, which it drives from one part of the vessel to another. Under ordinary circ.u.mstances it is usually local, and easily extinguished; but when it seizes on various parts of the s.h.i.+p at once, as when struck by lightning, then destruction becomes inevitable.

In 1793 the _King George_ from Bombay was sailing up the river at Canton, when an electric spark, followed by a violent clap of thunder, grazed the mizzen-mast, and disappeared in the hold, after killing seven men. Seven hours later it was discovered with consternation that the hold, full of an inflammable cargo, was on fire. It spread rapidly over the whole s.h.i.+p, which it burned to the water's edge.

The s.h.i.+p _Bayfield_ from Liverpool was struck by lightning November 25, 1845. Instantly the deck was seen covered with globes of fire and large sparks, which set fire to the vessel. As it threatened the powder-magazine, the captain decided to abandon the s.h.i.+p. A rush was made for the boats, but as only thirty pounds of bread could be saved, many perished of hunger and thirst.

Often, indeed, the explosion of the powder-magazine makes the catastrophe even more terrible. Thus, in 1798, the English vessel the _Resistance_, was blown up in the Straits of Malacca. Only two or three of the crew were saved.

But lightning plays more tricks with the compa.s.s than with anything else when it visits a s.h.i.+p. The vibrating, quivering, magnetic needle is often paralyzed by the electric current; sometimes its poles are reversed, or the points, disturbed by the pa.s.sage of the spark, deviate, and no longer responding to the magnetic pole, mislead and move hither and thither.

Sometimes they even lose all their magnetic properties.

These changes in the compa.s.s often lead to disastrous consequences.

Many cases are known of s.h.i.+ps being steered to destruction through the deviation of the compa.s.s. Arago tells of a Genoese s.h.i.+p which, about the year 1808, sailing for Ma.r.s.eilles, was struck a little way off Algiers. The needles of the compa.s.ses all made half a revolution, although the instruments did not appear to be injured, and the vessel was wrecked on the coast when the pilot believed he could round the cape to the north. This may account for the total disappearance of certain s.h.i.+ps.

Some s.h.i.+ps, like certain individuals and certain trees, appear in particular to attract the electric fluid. We have many records of vessels struck several times in the course of a single electric storm.

Here are a few:--

On August 1, 1750, the _Malacca_ was struck repeatedly.

In 1848, the _Compet.i.tor_ was struck twice within an hour.

At the beginning of December, 1770, between Mahon and Malta, the s.h.i.+p of a Russian admiral was struck three times in a single night.

On January 5, 1830, in the Straits of Corfu, the _Madagascar_ received five destructive discharges in two hours.

We could add many others to this list. But enough. And yet we have not said the last word on the subject. We have to discuss the interchange of sympathetic currents, and those which are the reverse, taking place between the electricity of the skies and that of the telegraph.

Lightning often comes incognito to visit the earth's surface, or even the depths of the ocean. These little excursions to our terrestrial dominions usually pa.s.s unperceived; however, in certain cases the telegraph wires commit the indiscretion of revealing them.

On the other hand, we know that the wires entrusted with carrying our thoughts round the world, are almost inconceivably sensitive. Without being conscious of the fact, they are in correspondence with the sun, 149 millions of kilometres away, and any agitation on the surface of this luminary may cause them indescribable agitation, as we witnessed at the close of the year 1903.

During the formidable magnetic tempest of the 31st October, telegraphic and telephonic communication were interrupted in many parts of the world. In fact, the phenomenon was observed all over the surface of the globe. From nine o'clock in the morning, till four in the afternoon, the old world and the new were strangers to one another. Not a word nor a thought crossed the ocean; the submarine cables were paralyzed on account of solar disturbances. In France, communication between the princ.i.p.al towns and the frontiers was interrupted. During this time the sun was in a condition of violent agitation, and its surface vibrated with intense heat. In such times the subtle fluid profits by the confusion to glide noiselessly along the paths which are open to it. But he does not always wait for these favourable opportunities.

Let a thunder-cloud pa.s.s over the telegraph wires, either noiselessly or hurling petards in all directions, the line will be affected. The fluid imprisoned in the sky will act by induction on the electricity of the wires which will result in the vibration of the latter, accompanied sometimes by a flash of lightning. These phenomena may cause grave accidents to the telegraph clerks, unless they are on their guard against the treachery of the lightning. These mute discharges happen frequently, but the spark strikes the telegraph wires often, too, as well as the apparatus in the office. All sorts of accidents result from these repeated attacks.

We know, for instance, how the birds fall victims to the lightning when they alight on the telegraph wires after a thunderstorm; they are often found dead hanging by their claws.

But the fluid acts on man also, through the medium of the wires.

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