The Slavonia’s encounter with the waterspout took place in latitude 42 degrees 22 minutes north and longitude 52 degrees 35 minutes west.  This is rather far north for waterspouts so early in the year.  The waterspout crop is generally more plentiful when thunder and lightning are on top, which is in warmer weather.  The temperature of the air at the time of the encounter was 37 degrees; water 54 degrees.  It had been cold during the night, but grew warmer in the morning.  The clouds which overspread the firmament were of the cumulus pattern.

Erichsen and Lorentzen have not only seen other waterspouts, but the first, when on a sailing vessel in the tropics, ran into the very middle of one with no worse result than to deluge the deck of the ship with water as a heavy shower would have done.  He thinks an unusually large waterspout might possibly sink a very small vessel, say a pilot boat, but with a ship of ordinary size he considers bombarding a waterspout with cannon a waste of powder.

AN HEROIC WOMAN.

Every boy and girl should learn to swim.  When one recalls how easily the art is acquired, and the many occasions that are liable to arise, we cannot but wonder that the accomplishment is so universally neglected by the other sex.  It is pleasant to note, however, that swimming is growing to be popular among women, and the day is not far distant, when the majority of young ladies will become the rivals of their brothers in their ability to keep their heads above water.

Torres Strait separates Australia from Papua or New Guinea; and connects the Arafura Sea on the west, with the Coral Sea on the east.  Its current is swift and the waters from time immemorial have been dangerous to navigation.  It has been the scene of many shipwrecks, and it is only a few months since that the steamer Quetta was lost in those waters.  One hundred and sixteen persons perished on that terrible night in the South Pacific, but among the survivors was Miss Lacy, whose experience was not only among the most interesting and thrilling ever recorded, but emphasizes the statement we have made at the opening of our sketch.

Miss Lacy says she was sitting in the saloon, engaged in writing a letter, the other ladies practicing for a concert which it was intended to give on shipboard.  Everything was going along, merrily, and all were in high spirits, when, without the least warning, they were startled by a harsh, grating noise, the steamer rocked violently, and nearly every one was thrown into the wildest panic.

The confusion and shouts above showed that some fearful disaster had occurred.  Instantly Miss Lacy made a rush for the deck to learn what it meant.  Quick as were her movements, she found the ship was already sinking.  Going aft was like climbing a steep hill, but she saw that one portion was high above water, and she struggled bravely to reach it.  But, so rapidly did the Quetta go down that she had hardly gone forward, when the steamer was swallowed up in the furious waters.