west of us, the fifth was without us, the
sixth first appeared in the south-west, at the distance of two or three
miles at least from us. Its progressive motion was to the north-east, not
in a straight but in a crooked line, and passed within fifty yards of our
stern, without our feeling any of its effects. The diameter of the base of
this spout I judged to be about fifty or sixty feet; that is, the sea
within this space was much agitated, and foamed up to a great height. From
this a tube, or round body, was formed, by which the water or air, or both,
was carried in a spiral stream up to the clouds. Some of our people said
they saw a bird in the one near us, which was whirled round like the fly of
a jack, as it was carried upwards. During the time these spouts lasted, we
had now and then light puffs of wind from all points of the compass, with
some few slight showers of rain, which generally fell in large drops; and
the weather continued thick and hazy for some hours after, with variable
light breezes of wind. At length the wind fixed in its old point, and the
sky resumed its former serenity. Some of these spouts appeared at times to
be stationary; and at other times to have a quick but very unequal
progressive motion, and always in a crooked line, sometimes one way and
sometimes another; so that, once or twice, we observed them to cross one
another. From the ascending motion of the bird, and several other
circumstances, it was very plain to us that these spouts were caused by
whirlwinds, and that the water in them was violently hurried upwards, and
did not descend from the clouds as I have heard some assert. The first
appearance of them is by the violent agitation and rising up of the water;
and, presently after, you see a round column or tube forming from the
clouds above, which apparently descends till it joins the agitated water
below. I say apparently, because I believe it not to be so in reality, but
that the tube is already formed from the agitated water below, and ascends,
though at first it is either too small or too thin to be seen. When the
tube is formed, or becomes visible, its apparent diameter increaseth till
it is pretty large; after that it decreaseth, and at last it breaks or
becomes invisible towards the lower part. Soon after the sea below resumes
its natural state, and the tube is drawn, by little and little, up to the
clouds, where it is dissipated. The same tube would sometimes have a
vertical, and s