Jack, however, suggested a cause which seemed to me very probable.

We used often to see water-spouts in the sea.

A water- spout is a whirling body of water, which rises from the sea like a sharp- pointed pillar.

After rising a good way, it is met by a long tongue, which comes down from the clouds; and when the two have joined, they look something like an hour-glass.

The water-spout is then carried by the wind, sometimes gently, sometimes with violence, over the sea, sometimes up into the clouds, and then, bursting asunder, it descends in a deluge.
This often happens over the land as well as over the sea; and it sometimes does much damage, but frequently it passes gently away.