St. Elmo's Fire
 

Has anyone witnessed this phenomenon while cruising? It's also referred to as "ball lightning" although the two are similar but different effects, and are most often seen in the rigging of sailing ships, but have been known to happen on modern vessels as well.
I was on a ferry while wearing a blue helmet off the coast of Cyrus in 1991. I was below decks when some sailors came running, yelling "St. Elmo's!"... I was too late to get above deck.

A friend of mine has said a storm at sea is spectacular on a cruise ship at night. He said a cruise ship Captain on one of his cruises was discussing his encounters with the phenomenon. Any comments?

Re: St. Elmo's Fire
 

Never on a cruise. I saw a most spectacular version while flying from New York to Oslo. The pilot pointed it out. It looked like bright green plasma flowing between the clouds. No idea if that was typical or atypical, but the passengers were agog.

Cheers, Aidan

I wasn't sure what you were talking about so I read up on it. I also found a picture. Here is an interesting article about it. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...ghtning_2.html Here is a quote from the article.

I have never saw ball lightning. It sounds interest and a little scary.

http://www.newscientist.com/data/ima...9293-1_250.jpg

And I thought this thread was about the movie !

Phil & Liz

I've never personally seen St. Elmo's Fire or Ball Lightning occur naturally, but I once saw Ball Lightning recreated in a lab setting and it was beautiful.

Here's another page with lots of info. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo's_fire

I love Wikipedia.

80s flashback.
[img]http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0S020vNf01JzW8BkgCjzbkF/SIG=1315b25ii/EXP=1229902157/**http%3A//www.listal.com/image/productsus/200/B00005Q799/dvds/-st-elmos-fire.jpg[/img]

LOL You're hilarious!!!!