'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎30] (133/496)

Monsoons of India connected with its Gales ,—The N.E. Monsoon
of India is in reality a part of the great trade wind, and the S.W. i s
merely an extension of the Line-westerly, caused by the great deserts
and central tracts of Northern India and Southern Asia, when under
the calorific agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. of the Line. It is during the change of these
monsoons that storms occur on the coasts of India, or neighbouring
seas. All the rotatory gales so carefully examined by Mr. Pidding-
ton of Calcutta, have happened in April, May, or June ; or in
October and November. On the recession of the S.W. monsoon,
and setting in of the N.E., during the latter month, “ the Elephanta/'
evidently a rotatory gale of more or less violence, is always expected
on this coast.
Horsburgh, in his sailing directions for this coast, notices several
gales which visited the western shore of India in October and Novem
ber ; and refers to a severe storm that happened about the 20th
April 1782, “ in wdiich H. M. S. Cuddalore, the Revenge, and several
“ other ships, foundered with their crews ; the Essex, Nancy, and
“ others, were dismasted/’ He also informs us that a vessel foundered
at her anchors in Surat road during the same gale, “ owing to the
“wind, tide, and high cross sea, from southward and westward/’
However difficult it may be to assign the real causes of the late
Malabar hurricane, yet analogy, reasoning, and ascertained facts, all
point to their intimate connexion with the conflicting forces of an
extraordinarily early S.W. or equatorial wind, and those of a pro
tracted N.E. monsoon. For some weeks before the hurricane, winds
from the Eastward prevailed over all India as far as Ceylon, and con
tinued to blow with more or less strength and steadiness till the
centre of the storm passed, after which all accounts from Scinde to
Ceylon, and from the Arabian sea, agree in shewing the presence of
Westerly winds and weather, such as attend the setting in of the
j.j m ° nsoon - In the northern parts of the peninsula the latter
id not become fixed, although at Ceylon and about the Southern
extremity of India steady S.W. winds were in force up to the end
o pril. But that the agencies which set the S.W. or sea winds
in motion, were developed long before the period of the year when
, 6y are ex P ect ed, is manifest from the fact of the monsoon having
een per ectly established at Bombay by the 22nd of May, being the
rhest recollected for many years.