I have found this week entry on the "Gallery" via a Google search. Someone was selling a beautiful lithography from 1828 entitle "Phénomène de trombes marines" for the small sum of £1200. The lithography showed a series of waterspouts and my initial thinking was that this is an artistic representations of various types waterspouts (similar with the "Diagram of Meteorology" by John Emslie). Since I was curious to find more about it, I have tried to find a high resolution reproduction. I have found one in the collections of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, which is showed bellow.
Waterspouts on the Tyrrhenian Sea on 27 June 1827. Courtesy of Bibliothèque nationale de France. [click on the image for a high resolution version]
The caption reads: "Waterspouts phenomenon observed in the sea of Sicily [i.e., Tyrrhenian Sea], toward Stromboli [showed on the left of the image] 27 June 1827, and drawn by L. Mazzara [i.e., Louis Mazzara], aboard the brigantine Portia, Cabbage captain, when the ship fired on the waterspout [showed on the right of the image]." Félix Achille Saint-Aulaire made the engraving based on a drawing by Louis Mazzara and the lithography was published in 1828 by Godefroy Engelmann. Unfortunately, I could not find more informations about this event except for a short description in "Météorologie" (1841) by Jean Charles Athanase Peltier which indicated that the lithography shows a family of seven waterspouts. This is similar with another event that occurred on August 1999 between Corfu and Othonoi islands, in Greek waters, which shows a family of four waterspouts. [Thanks to Stavros Dafis, who is studying this event, for providing informations on the location.]
Waterspouts between Corfu and Othonoi islands, in Greek waters on August 1999. The picture was taken by Roberto Giudici on a boat trip to Brindisi (Italy) (©Roberto Giudici).
If you have other informations about the event form 27 June 1827, I would be very interested to hear from you and understand more about the story behind the lithography.