Stormy waters

I was intrigued with Laurence A. Marschall's review [10/05] of The Great Hurricane: 1938, by Cherie Burns. I experienced that hurricane from the relatively safe confines of Watertown, Massachusetts, and I have studied many accounts of the storm.

Mr. Marschall states that a high-pressure system from the north caused the hurricane to stall. In fact, the hurricane accelerated as it approached Long Island, traveling at more than sixty miles an hour when it made landfall.

John R. Moyer

Sedgwick, Maine

CHERIE BURNS REPLIES: John R. Moyer is correct in pointing out the error in the book review. I did not write in my book that the hurricane "stalled"; instead, I wrote, it gained speed and intensified throughout its assault on the eastern seaboard. Its ferocity grew even as it swept across Long Island and roared on to the Connecticut and Rhode Island mainland.

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