|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|||
|
Reports written by Susan
Wels
|
Images produced by Matt Tulloch | |||
 |
||||
|
Wednesday, August 26, 1998
"On Sunday morning, April 14th, this marvelous ship, the perfection of all vessels hitherto conceived by the brain of man, had, for three and one-half days, proceeded on her way from Southampton to New York over a sea of glass, so level it appeared, without encountering a ripple brought on the surface of the water by a storm."
|
||||
 |
In San Francisco, we call this earthquake weather. The sun this afternoon was hot as a torch, and the air was stiflingly still.  Even
the sea was strangely stagnant—flat out to the horizon and heaving
rhythmically, like the respiration of a sleeping animal.Something fearsome may be coming. If weather reports are right, it may be a category-3 hurricane— powerful enough to cause extreme damage, both on land and to ships at sea. Since August 22, the Nadir has received warnings about Hurricane Bonnie, which started brewing in the Caribbean. Over the past four days, she’s gained in strength and violence—her winds whipping up from 65 to 100 knots and her gusts climbing from 80 to 120 knots. Today, Hurricane Bonnie started slamming the North Carolina coast. If she catches a low-pressure trough, she could quickly swing northeast and tear across the North Atlantic, bringing 50- to 60-knot winds and 25-foot seas between August 28 and September 1. We are right in Bonnie’s path, if she turns and heads for the Atlantic. But that’s not all. There’s a second hurricane, Danielle, that’s right on Bonnie’s tail and moving fast. Forecasters are predicting that she’ll become just as powerful and dangerous as Bonnie. If the two storms hit the North Atlantic, it’s not a place that any ship’s captain or crew would want to be. |
|||