The ocean / By P. H. Gosse.

  • Gosse, Philip Henry, 1810-1888.
Date:
[pref. 1845]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The ocean / By P. H. Gosse. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    39/388 (page 21)
    “For He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They [the ma- riners] mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths : their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end.” The Holy Spirit thus alludes to the terrific raging of the tempest as eminently calculated to draw man’s attention to the power and majesty of God, while the wondrous deliverances He has so often wrought from its fury, are so many claims on man’s grateful love and praise. Let us, then, in contemplating a few of the in- numerable objects of interest which the ocean pre- sents to us, endeavour, in dependence on His own gracious aid, to recognise His hand, to discern the greatness of His power in creating and upholding all things, His unerring skill and wisdom in arrang- ing and carrying out His designs, and the careful and provident benevolence which He continually exercises towards the sentient part of His creation. The varied tribes of living beings that throng the deep, from the wallowing whale to the luminous animalcule, visible but as a sparkling point; the multifarious forms of marine vegetation, displaying view of the horizon. After watching for a sufficient length of time to verify the deductions, they descended, and measured the height of the point of sight from the ship’s water-line ; deducting half of this distance for the depression of the hollow below the level of the surface, the remain- der gives the elevation of the highest wave. It is thus found that waves do not usually exceed six feet in height, except when cross-waves over- run each other ; and probably in no case do the very loftiest rise above ten feet above the general level.