When one witnesses a waterspout, he carries away the feeling that he has seen a real freak of nature; and he has. Waterspouts have a supernatural appearance and there is little Wonder that they were regarded at one time as living monsters and that even in the present time they are wholesomely respected by those following the sea. I had the good fortune to observe one from the air recently, at close hand, and as a consequence I can readily understand the origin of some of the superstitions regarding them which prevailed during the middle ages.
At one time waterspouts were thought to be susceptible to fright and various noise-making devices aboard ship, such as the beating of drums and gongs, were employed to insure that they kept their distance. Later, considerable gunpowder Was wasted for this purpose. Until recent years, many have thought waterspouts to be solid whirling columns of water descending from the clouds to the sea and capable of doing great damage to ships. It is still thought by some that waterspouts can prematurely be dispersed by sending a projectile from a ship’s gun through the revolving structure. This theory is no longer credited by writers on the subject, there being no foundation for it other than legend.
A few years ago in Asiatic waters the captain of a destroyer is reported to have been persuaded by a junior officer to fire a ship’s gun at a threatening waterspout. The vessel’s course was altered to gain a favorable position for firing, but not only did the projectile fail to have the slightest effect upon the spout but the maneuvers brought its path across the stern of the vessel causing a certain amount of damage to the superstructure—and to the junior officer’s pride.
It is now known that waterspouts are not solid structures and seldom possess enough speed to prevent them from being readily avoided by steamers. Comparatively little damage is done to ships when struck. The flying spray and tornado-like wind, which accompanies the waterspouts, may tear away awnings and damage lifeboats but serious injuries are very rare. Even sailing vessels have been struck without damage; however there are cases where sailing vessels have been completely dismasted and some have been capsized.
A waterspout usually consists of a tubular column of rapidly rotating air extending downward from the underside of a cloud to a mass of spray on the water. It is similar in nature to a tornado though on the average much less violent. One seldom lasts more than thirty minutes. In the forming of a waterspout a portion of the underside of a cloud dips downward presenting a funnel-shaped appearance. As it descends toward the water a small white crested wave rises from the sea, increasing rapidly in size, churning and becoming agitated as if by some force from below. With a sudden rush it springs upward in a slender tapering column and joins the lower portion of the cloud above. There have been cases where the whirling column does not extend to the cloud above, but remains separated by a wide space so that no visible reason appears for the mass of disturbed water which stands up, like an inverted cone, above the surface of the sea. I was witness to what appeared to be two such waterspouts occurring simultaneously off Coronado, California, in August, 1930. The revolving bodies were of good size and well formed but thinly constructed and became invisible toward the lower portion. The bases were hidden from view from where I stood on the Naval Air Station at North Island. They lasted about 5 minutes after first being noticed, and broke up by the process of merely fading away. Several others observed the pair at the same time and the general opinion was that they were from 1,000 to 1,500 feet high and seemed to be about this distance apart.
This uncommon view stimulated my interest in this natural phenomenon and when, on the morning of September 12, 1934, I sighted another spout, while in an airplane, it seemed that my long hoped for chance had come to examine one at close hand. The spout was completely formed when I first observed it on Chesapeake Bay, a few miles from Ocean View, Virginia. Beyond, rain was falling and not far away to one side, roughly 3 miles, lightning flashes completed the curious picture. Flying toward it, I climbed to the altitude of the top of the column and glanced at my altimeter which read 1,000 feet. Using this figure as a basis, I estimated the diameter of the column where it entered the clouds to be 100 feet and the diameter at the surface where it entered a revolving dome-shaped mass of spray to be 30 feet. The spray was pure white while the emerging column, in contrast, was a dark gray color like the storm cloud overhead. Upon arrival, I flew around the spout, taking care not to venture too close, and noticed among other things that the behavior of the churned-up mass of spray was especially odd. It appeared to be actuated by a separate force from that which caused the rotation of the sharply defined body of the spout. Both, however, rapidly rotated in the same direction—counterclockwise. The entrance of the spout into the clouds was likewise clean-cut, appearing in no way to merge with the cloud. The spout inclined forward in the direction of travel along the surface of the bay and moved with a speed of about 10 knots. A sharp wake trailed in almost a straight line, which line closely coincided with the surface wind streaks, easily discernible from the air, and indicated the travel of the spout to be the same direction as the surface winds. The wake, about 5 feet in width, was amazingly narrow in contrast to the large turbulent mound of spray at the surface, measuring fully 125 feet across. So sharp and narrow did it appear that it seemed the only reasonable explanation must be that the vortex came to a point on the water’s surface inside the mass of spray. Spouts usually travel in the direction of the prevailing wind, as this one did, and incline in proportion to the intensity, remaining almost vertical and stationary in calm weather.
The break-up started by the tube growing noticeably smaller and seeming to stretch out and to curve to one side so that instead of being straight it suddenly shaped itself into a gigantic question mark. Next it pulled apart at the center both halves rapidly fading from sight in about 10 seconds. The agitated base on the water, however, required over a minute to fully subside. The spout lasted for 10 minutes after I first sighted it.
There are numerous bits of evidence to bear out the belief that waterspouts have lifting powers and many writers think this affords a scientific explanation of the reported “showers of fish” and “showers of frogs” occurring from time to time throughout the world. Waterspouts are most commonly found over the ocean in the temperate zones although occasionally they are sighted on fresh water lakes. On more than half of the occasions on which waterspouts have been observed, two or more have been seen.