ground-sea

The Sailor's Word-Book

The West Indian name for the swell called rollers, or in Jamaica the north sea. It occurs in a calm, and with no other indication of a previous gale; the sea rises in huge billows, dashes against the shore with roarings resembling thunder, probably due to the "northers," which suddenly rage off the capes of Virginia, round to the Gulf of Mexico, and drive off the sea from America, affecting the Bahama Banks, but not reaching to Jamaica or Cuba. The rollers set in terrifically in the Gulf of California, causing vessels to founder or strike in 7 fathoms, and devastating the coast-line. H.M.S. Lily foundered off Tristan d'Acunha in similar weather. In all the latter cases no satisfactory cause is yet assigned. (See roller.)

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