SAILING THROUGH BOILING WATER.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXXVII, Issue 2008, 1 October 1906, Page 7

SAILING THROUGH BOILING WATER.

New Zealand's boiling lake (Tara- ' wera), about portions of which tourists are ferried by guides in a boat after being warned to "sit down, and not dangle their hands in the water." Hut a voyage through 50 miles of ! mid-ocean hot springs embodies the ! elements of a greater sensation than J that. A special despatch dated New I York, March 29, to the Sat) Francisco "Chronicle," states :—After sailing through miles of water so hot that the cook declared he was able to boil eggs in the steam that arose from it, the British steamer Lothian arrived here to-day from Japan and China. The boiling water is supposed to have been caused by submarine volcanic disturbances, and and altogether it is figured that the Lothian steamed through fifty miles of the mid-ocean hot springs. The ship was ; between Hongkong and Cubu, and j was making twelve knots an hour in j a tranquil sea when the water began to boil. The mate of the Lothian ■ said to-day that the first knowledge they had of the boiling water was when the ocean all around the ship began to crackle like the noise of burning wood. At the same time, the ocean began to bubble. The atmosphere 25ft. above the sea was perfectly clear, but below that the steam arose until it was condensed by the air. No distinct shock was lelt, but , the ship trembled like it had chills and fever. !