The Mary Celeste - Facts not fiction

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The Azores are group of islands and a region
of Portugal, some 1500 km to the west of
Lisbon in the North Atlantic Ocean.
 
The islands are historically a port of call
for ships crossing the North Atlantic.

A letter from Servico
Meteorologico dos Açores

Angra do Heroismo, Azores Islands, May 27, 1940

MR. CHARLES EDEY FAY
Sunny Crest Farm,
Grassy Hill Road
Woodbury, Conn.,
U.S. America

DEAR SIR:

I am very gladly complying with the request in your letter of March 4.

As the records from the stations in the Azores previous to the establishment of the Meteorological Service in the Islands, 1901, are kept in the Lisbon Observatory, I was forced to request the data from the Director of that Observatory, hence the delay in answering your questions.

From the records from Angra do Heroismo and Ponta Delgada, the two only stations existing in 1872, it is concluded that stormy conditions prevailed in the Azores on the 24 and 25 November 1872. A COLD FRONT passed Angra do Heroismo between 3 and 9 P.M. on the 25th. the wind shifting then from SW to NW. The minimum of pressure was 752 mm. and the wind velocity attained to 62 km. at Ponta Delgada at 9 P.M. on the 24th. Calm or light wind prevailed on the forenoon of the 25th., but later, the wind becane of a gale force. As usually the wind direction before the cold front was WSW to SW; after the cold front NW. 14 mm. of rain were collected at Angra from noon 24 to noon 25, and 29 mm. at Ponta Delgada.

No record of any earthquake is kept in the registers, neither in the local newspapers which we have searched.

Yours faithfully

(Signed)

J. AGOSTINHO
Director