– high gales
Seas frightfully rough, ship rolls heavily. We only make 4 knots an hour with a very strong gale blowing. Many stormy petrels to be seen.
*Its association with storms makes the storm petrel a bird of bad omen to mariners; they are said to either foretell or cause bad weather. A more prosaic explanation of their appearance in rough weather is that, like most oceanic seabirds, they rely on the winds to support them in flight and just sit on the water surface when becalmed. The birds were sometimes thought to be the souls of perished sailors, and killing a petrel was believed to bring bad luck.