One of the most dangerous components of the sea is the snowstorm. The
snowstorm is above all things magnetic. The pole produces it as it
produces the aurora borealis. It is in the fog of the one as in the
light of the other; and in the flake of snow as in the streak of flame
effluvium is visible.

Storms are the nervous attacks and delirious frenzies of the sea. The
sea has its ailments. Tempests may be compared to maladies. Some are
mortal, others not; some may be escaped, others not. The snowstorm is
supposed to be generally mortal. Jarabija, one of the pilots of
Magellan, termed it "a cloud issuing from the devil's sore side."[2]

The old Spanish navigators called this kind of squall _la nevada_, when
it came with snow; _la helada_, when it came with hail. According to
them, bats fell from the sky, with the snow.

Snowstorms are characteristic of polar latitudes; nevertheless, at times
they glide--one might almost say tumble--into our climates; so much
ruin is mingled with the chances of the air.

The _Matutina_, as we have seen, plunged resolutely into the great
hazard of the night, a hazard increased by the impending storm. She had
encountered its menace with a sort of tragic audacity; nevertheless, it
must be remembered that she had received due warning.




CHAPTER II.