KRAKATOA, THE GREATEST OF VOLCANIC EXPLOSIONS.
BY TRUMBULL WHITE.
=The Volcano That Blew Its Own Head Off--The Terrific Crash
Heard Three Thousand Miles--Atmospheric Waves Travel Seven
Times Around the Earth--A Pillar of Dust Seventeen Miles
High--Islands of the Malay Archipelago Blotted Out of
Existence--Native Villages Annihilated--Other Disastrous
Upheavals in the East Indies.=
One of the fairest regions of the world is the Malay Archipelago of
the East Indies. Here nature is prodigal with her gifts to man, and
the cocoa-palm, cinnamon and other trees flourish, and rice, cotton,
the sugar cane and tobacco yield their increase under cultivation. But
beneath these scenes of loveliness, there are terrific energies, for
this region is a focus of intense volcanic action. In the Sunda
strait, between Sumatra and Java, there lies a group of small volcanic
islands, the largest of which is Krakatoa. It forms part of the "basal
wreck" of a large submarine volcano, whose visible edges are also
represented by Velaten and Lang islands.
For two hundred years the igneous forces beneath Krakatoa remained
dormant; but in September, 1880, premonitory shocks of earthquake were
heard in the neighborhood. At length the inhabitants of Batavia and
Bintenzorg were startled on May 20, 1883, by booming sounds which came
from Krakatoa, one hundred miles distant. A mail steamer passing
through the strait, had her compass violently agitated. Next day a
sprinkling of ashes was noticed at some places on each side of the
strait, and toward evening a steam-column rising from Krakatoa
revealed the locality of the disturbance. The commander of the German
war ship Elisabeth, while passing, estimated the dust-column to be
about thirty-six thousand feet, or seven miles high.
Volcanic phenomena being common to that region, no fears were
entertained by the inhabitants in the vicinity; and an excursion party
even started from Batavia to visit the scene of action. They reached
the island on May 27th, and saw that the cone of Perborwatan was
active, and that a column of vapor arose from it to a height of not
less than ten thousand feet, while lumps of pumice were shot up to
about six hundred feet. Explosions occurred at intervals of from five
to ten minutes, each of these outbursts uncovering the liquid lava in
the vent, the glow of which lighted up the overhanging steam-cloud for
a few seconds.
Shortly after this visit the activity diminished. But on June 19th it
was noticed at Anjer that the height of the dust and vapor-column, and
likewise the explosions were again increasing. On the 24th a second
column was seen rising. At length, Captain Ferzenaar, chief of the
Topographical Survey of Bantam, visited Krakatoa island on August
11th. He found its forests destroyed, and the mantle of dust near the
shores was twenty inches thick. Three large vapor-columns were noted,
one marking the position of the crater of Perborwatan, while the other
two were in the center of the island, and of the latter, one was
probably Danan. There were also no less than eleven other eruptive
foci, from which issued smaller steam-columns and dust. This was the
last report prior to the great paroxysm.
During the next two or three weeks there was a decline in the energy
of the volcano, but on the afternoon of Sunday, August 26th, and all
through the following night, it was evident that the period of
moderate eruptive action had passed, and that Krakatoa had now
entered upon the paroxysmal stage. From sunset on Sunday till midnight
the tremendous detonations followed each other so quickly that a
continuous roar may be said to have issued from the island. The full
terrors of the eruption were now approaching. The distance of
ninety-six miles from Krakatoa was not sufficient to permit sleep to
the inhabitants of Batavia. All night volcanic thunders sounded like
the discharges of artillery at their very doors. On the next morning
there were four mighty explosions. The third was of appalling
violence, and it gave rise to the most far-reaching effects. The
entire series of grand phenomena at that spot extended over a little
more than thirty-six hours.
Captain Thompson, of the Media, then seventy-six miles northeast of
Krakatoa, saw a black mass like smoke rising into the clouds to an
altitude estimated at not less than seventeen miles. The eruption was
also viewed by Captain Wooldridge at a distance of forty miles. He
speaks of the vapory mass looking like "an immense wall, with bursts
of forked lightning, at times like large serpents rushing through the
air." After sunset this dark wall resembled "a blood-red curtain with
the edges of all shades of yellow, the whole of a murky tinge, with
fierce flashes of lightning." Two other masters of vessels, at about
the same distance from the volcano, report seeing the mastheads and
yardarms of their ships aglow with electric fire. Such effects seem to
be easily explicable. When we consider how enormous must be the
friction going on in the hot air, through the clash against each other
of myriads of particles of volcanic dust, during ejection and in their
descent, it is evident that such friction is adequate to produce a
widespread electrical disturbance in the surrounding atmosphere. The
rush of steam through craters or other fissures would also contribute
to these disturbances.
From these causes the compasses of passing ships were much disturbed.
And yet the fall of magnetic oxide of iron (magnetite), a constituent
of volcanic ash, possibly had some share in creating these
perturbations. On the telephone line from Ishore, which included a
submarine cable about a mile long, reports like pistol shots were
heard. At Singapore, five hundred miles from Krakatoa, it was noted at
the Oriental Telephone Company's station that, on putting the receiver
to the ear, a roar like that of a waterfall was heard. So great was
the mass of vapor and dust in the air, that profound darkness, which
lasted many hours, extended even to one hundred and fifty miles from
the focus of the eruption. There is the record, among others, that it
was "pitch dark" at Anjer at two o'clock in the afternoon of the 26th.
So great, too, was the ejective force that the fine volcanic dust was
blown up to a height of fifty thousand feet, or over nine miles, into
space. Another estimate gives the enormous altitude of seventeen miles
to which the dust had been blown. The volcanic ash, which fell upon
the neighboring islands within a circle of nine and one half miles
radius, was from sixty-five to one hundred and thirty feet thick. At
the back of the island the thickness of the ash beds was from one
hundred and ninety-five to two hundred and sixty feet. Masses of
floating pumice encumbered the strait. The coarser particles of this
ash fell over a known area equal to 285,170 square miles, a space
equal to the whole of the New England States, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. It is calculated that the
matter so ejected must have been considerably over a cubic mile in
volume.
Another distinguishing feature of this display of nature's powers was
the magnitude and range of the explosive sounds. Lloyd's agent at
Batavia, ninety-four miles distant from Krakatoa, reported that on the
morning of the 27th the reports and concussions were simply deafening.
At Carimon, Java, which is three hundred and fifty-five miles distant,
the natives heard reports which led them to suppose that a distant
ship was in distress; boats put off for what proved to be a futile
search. The explosions were heard not only all over the province of
Macassar, nine hundred and sixty-nine miles from the scene of the
eruption, but over a yet wider area. At a spot one thousand one
hundred and sixteen miles distant--St. Lucia bay, Borneo--some natives
heard the awful sound. It stirred their consciences, for, being guilty
of murder, they fled, fearing that such sounds signified the approach
of an avenging force. Again, in the island of Timor, one thousand
three hundred and fifty-one miles away, the people were so alarmed
that the government sent off a steamer to seek the cause of the
disturbance.
At that time, also, the shepherds on the Victoria plains, West
Australia, thought they heard the firing of heavy artillery, at a spot
one thousand seven hundred miles distant. At midnight, August 26th,
the people of Daly Waters, South Australia, were aroused by what they
thought was the blasting of a rock, a sound which lasted a few
minutes. "The time and other circumstances show that here again was
Krakatoa heard, this time at the enormous distance of two thousand and
twenty-three miles." And yet there is trustworthy evidence that the
sounds were heard over even greater distances. Thundering noises were
heard at Diego Garcia, in the Chagos islands, two thousand two hundred
and sixty-seven miles from Krakatoa. It was imagined that some vessel
must be in distress, and search was accordingly made. But most
remarkable of all, Mr. James Wallis, chief of police in Rodriguez,
across the Indian ocean, and nearly three thousand miles away from
Krakatoa, made a statement in which he said that "several times during
the night of August 26th-27th reports were heard coming from the
eastward like the distant roar of heavy guns. These reports continued
at intervals of between three and four hours." Obviously, some time
was needed for the sounds to make such a journey. On the basis of the
known rate of velocity, they must have been heard at Rodriguez four
hours after they started from their source.
And yet, great as was the range of such vibrations, they could not be
compared with that of the air-wave caused by the mighty outburst. This
atmospheric wave started from Krakatoa at two minutes past ten on that
eventful Monday morning, moving onward in an ever-widening circle,
like that produced when a stone is thrown into smooth water. This
ring-like wave traveled on at the rate of from six hundred and
seventy-four to seven hundred and twenty-six miles an hour, and went
around the world four, if not even seven times, as evidenced by the
following facts: Batavia is nearly a hundred miles from the eruptive
focus under review. There was connected with its gas-holder the usual
pressure recorder. About thirteen minutes after the great outburst,
this gauge showed a barometric disturbance equal to about four-tenths
of an inch of mercury, that is, an extra air pressure of about a fifth
of a pound on every square inch. The effects on the air of minor
paroxysmal outbreaks are also recorded by this instrument; but
barometers in the most distant places record the same disturbance. The
great wave passed and repassed over the globe and no inhabitant was
conscious of the fact. Barometers in the principal cities of the world
automatically recorded this effect of the first great wave from
Krakatoa to its antipodes in Central America, and also the return
wave. The first four oscillations left their mark on upward of forty
barograms, the fifth and sixth on several, and at Kew, England, the
existence of a seventh was certainly established.
At the same time that this immense aerial undulation started on its
tour around the world, another wave but of awful destructiveness, a
seismic sea-wave, started on a similar journey. There can hardly be a
doubt that this so-called "tidal-wave" was synchronous with the
greatest of the explosions. A wave from fifty to seventy-two feet high
arose and swept with resistless fury upon the shores each side of the
straits. The destruction to life and property will probably never be
fully known. At least thirty-six thousand lives were lost; a great
part of the district of North Bantam was destroyed; and the towns of
Anjer, Merak, Tyringin, and neighboring villages were overwhelmed. A
man-of-war, the Berouw, was cast upon the shore of Sumatra nearly two
miles inland, and masses of coral from twenty to fifty tons in weight
were torn from the bed of the sea and swept upon the shore.
The formerly fertile and densely populated islands of Sibuku and
Sibesi were entirely covered by a deposit of dry mud several yards
thick, and furrowed by deep crevasses. Of the inhabitants all perished
to a man. Three islands, Steers, Calmeyer, and the islet east of
Verlaten, completely disappeared and were covered by twelve or
fourteen feet of water. Verlaten, formerly one mass of verdure, was
uniformly covered with a layer of ashes about one hundred feet thick.
A few days after this eruption some remarkable sky effects were
observed in different parts of the world. Many of these effects were
of extraordinary beauty. Accordingly scientific inquiry was made, and
in due time there was collected and tabulated a list of places from
whence these effects were seen, together with the dates of such
occurrences. Eventually it was concluded that such optical phenomena
had a common cause, and that it must be the dust of ultra-microscopic
fineness at an enormous altitude. All the facts indicated that such a
cloud started from the Sunda straits, and that the prodigious force of
the Krakatoa eruption could at that time alone account for the
presence of impalpable matter at such a height in the atmosphere.
This cloud traveled at about double the speed of an express train, by
way of the tropics of Cancer and of Capricorn. Carried by
westerly-going winds, in three days it had crossed the Indian Ocean
and was rapidly moving over Central Africa; two days later it was
flying over the Atlantic; then, for two more days over Brazil, and
then across the Pacific toward its birth-place. But the wind still
carried this haze of fine particles onward, and again it went around
the world within a fortnight. In November, the dust area had expanded
so as to include North America and Europe.
Here are a few facts culled from the report of the Royal Society of
London. On the 28th, at Seychelles, the sun was seen as through a fog
at sunset, and there was a lurid glare all over the sky. At the island
of Rodriguez, on that day, "a strange, red, threatening sky was seen
at sunset." At Mauritius (28th), there is the record "Crimson dawn,
sun red after rising, gorgeous sunset, first of the afterglows; sky
and clouds yellow and red up to the zenith." 28th and 29th,
Natal--"most vivid sunsets, also August 31st and September 5th, sky
vivid red, fading into green and purple." On the last days of August
and September 1st, the sun, as seen from South America, appeared blue,
while at Panama on the 2nd and 3d of that month, the sun appeared
green. "On the 2nd of September, Trinidad, Port of Spain--Sun looked
like a blue ball, and after sunset the sky became so red that there
was supposed to be a big fire." "On the 5th of September,
Honolulu--Sun set green. Remarkable afterglow first seen. Secondary
glow lasted till 7:45 P. M., gold, green and crimson colors. Corona
constantly seen from September 5th to December 15th. Misty rippled
surface of haze."
It remains to be said that when this now famous island of Krakatoa was
visited shortly after the great eruption, wonderful changes were
noted. The whole northern and lower portion of the island had
vanished, except an isolated pitchstone rock, ten yards square, and
projecting out of the ocean with deep water all around it. What a
tremendous work of evisceration this must have been is attested by the
fact that where Krakatoa island, girt with luxuriant forests, once
towered from three hundred to fourteen hundred feet above the sunlit
waters, it is now, in some places, more than a thousand feet below
them.
There is no region more frequently visited by earthquakes than the
beautiful lands in the Indian ocean, and nowhere has greater damage
been done than on the beautiful island of Java. In former ages Sumatra
and Java formed one single island, but in the year 1115, after a
terrific earthquake, the isthmus which connected them, disappeared in
the waves with all its forests and fertile fields.
These two islands have more than 200 volcanoes, half of which have
never been explored, but it is known that whenever there has been an
eruption of any one of them, one or the other of the two islands has
been visited by an earthquake. Moreover, earthquakes are so frequent
in the whole archipelago that the principal ones serve as dates to
mark time or to refer to, just as in our own country is the case with
any great historic event. A month rarely passes without the soil being
shaken, and the disappearance of a village is of frequent occurrence.
In 1822 the earthquake which accompanied the eruption of the Javanese
volcano of Yalung-Yung, utterly destroyed 144 towns and villages. In
1772, when the Papand-Yung was in a state of furious eruption, the
island of Java was violently agitated, and a tract of nearly
twenty-five square leagues, which but the day before had been covered
with flourishing villages and farms, was reduced to a heap of ruins.
In 1815 an earthquake, accompanied by an eruption of the volcano of
Timboro, in the island of Sumatra, destroyed more than 20,000 lives.
It is rare even in this archipelago that there occurs a cataclysm so
terrible as that of 1883. When the first eruption of Krakatoa occurred
on August 25, it seemed that it was a signal to the other volcanoes of
Java and Sumatra. By midday Maha-Meru, the greatest, if not the most
active of the Javanese volcanoes, was belching forth flame
continuously. The eruption soon extended to the Gunung-Guntus and
other volcanoes, until a third of the forty-five craters in Java were
either in full blast, or beginning to show signs of eruption. While
these eruptions were going on, the sea was in a state of tremendous
agitation. The clouds floating above the water were charged with
electricity, and at one moment there were fifteen large water-spouts
to be seen at the same time.
Men, women and children fled in terror from their crumbling
habitations, and filled the air with their cries of distress. Hundreds
of them who had not time to escape were buried beneath the ruins. On
Sunday evening the violence of the shocks and of the volcanic
eruptions increased, and the island of Java seemed likely to be
entirely submerged. Enormous waves dashed against the shore, and in
some cases forced their way inland, while enormous crevices opened in
the ground, threatening to engulf at one fell swoop all the
inhabitants and their houses.
Toward midnight there was a scene of horror passing the powers of
imagination. A luminous cloud gathered above the chain of the
Kandangs, which run along the southeastern coast of Java. This cloud
increased in size each minute, until at last it came to form a sort of
dome of a gray and blood-red color, which hung over the earth for a
considerable distance. In proportion as this cloud grew, the eruptions
gained fresh force, and the floods of lava poured down the mountain
sides without ceasing, and spread into the valleys, where they swept
all before them. On Monday morning, about two o'clock, the heavy cloud
suddenly broke up, and finally disappeared, but when the sun rose it
was found that a tract of country extending from Point Capucine to the
south as far as Negery Passoerang, to the north and west, and covering
an area of about fifty square miles, had entirely disappeared.
There stood the previous day the villages of Negery, and Negery
Babawang. Not one of the inhabitants had escaped. They and their
villages had been swallowed up by the sea.