On April nineteenth Mother woke me up at one thirty in the morning
saying there was a fire way off to the south and west of us and that
the mate and the captain thought it must be a volcano in eruption. Far
away in the sky there was a faint pink glow, and we were all very much
excited.
The next morning we left Tower Island because the harbor would be
dangerous in case of a tidal wave or any disturbance from an
earthquake. Towards evening after trawling and fishing all day around
Tower and Bindloe Islands, we started for the direction of North
Albemarle. We could see the glow for seventy miles or more.
Later that night as we got nearer, the red glowed much more and the
great bank of clouds over it was all pink like a very bright sunset. By
three in the morning we were within ten miles of it and we could see
flames and juts of smoke.
In the morning Uncle Will and John Tee Van went ashore. They had a hard
time finding a landing place for the shore was all steep lava cliffs
against which the surf broke. But finally they went into a little
protected cove, and from there started off for the nearest smoking
place they saw. For a time we could see them as they climbed over the
terribly rough lava flows, older ones that had been coming down for
centuries. But soon we lost sight of them.
There was a lot of pumice which is a very light stone, kind of pale
gray or whitish in color. It comes from the volcanoes, like the lava.
Sometimes when you step into it you sink right up to your knees. It is
so light it floats on the water. It is fine for cleaning stains off
your hands.
At about two thirty or so they came back to the shore again and Uncle
Will had such terrible cramps in his legs he could hardly stand. They
said that they only went to the nearest place from which the smoke was
coming. It was so hot underfoot they had to keep going, it was
impossible to sit down or rest because of the heat. So when they
finally reached it after much climbing and walking, there was only time
to take some samples, make a few notes, test the gas, and return.
Uncle Will named the two volcanoes Mt. Williams and Mt. Whiton, after
Mr. Harrison Williams and Mr. Henry D. Whiton, two gentlemen who helped
most in making the Arcturus trip possible.
The volcano was erupting on the slope of the mountain, not on the top,
and there were many other little places from which smoke and cinders
were coming through besides just the one big crater. At night when the
fire showed more in the dark it looked like trains of brightly lighted
cars running down the mountain side.
Next day I went ashore with Betty and Lin. I saw three sea lions, two
huge crawfish, or speckled lobsters, many sharks, and lots of different
kinds of small fish. I stayed right in the little bay because it was so
hard walking around on the lava, which was just like clinkers.
This day the groupers, big heavy rock fish, were so hungry they even
attacked the moving propeller of Bill’s evinrude engine and when he
shook his sock at them they actually grabbed it. I would not want to
jump over near that shore. I believe the big groupers would attack a
man. We saw more big devil fish jumping near here than at any other
place. And the crew hooked several sharks.