KRAKATOA ERUPTION

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11538, 15 January 1932, Page 3

KRAKATOA ERUPTION

WORLD’S RECORD EXPLOSION

The - most terrific explosion that has occurred on earth, as ; far as history is able, to record, took place on 27th August, 1883, when six /square miles of the island of Krakatoa, situated in the Straits of Sunda between •lava and Sumatra., .were blown into the air by volcanic .eruption. Previous to the eruption Krakatoa was five miles in length 'and': three miles broad in its widest pgrt. The highest cone on this volcanic, island was called Ralmta, and was 2323 ft. above sea-level. Eruptions began on Krakatoa on 20th May, 1883, .after a period of .of over. 200 years. Rooming -sounds like distant-art!! lory were heard at Batavia; 100 mile's away, and, on-th a _following morning (he captain .of’ a .'ship which passed the island saw.- clouds 4)f steam. dust add pumice being ejected from the volcano to a height of seven miles. The eruptions continued for fourteen weeks, with occasional periods of slackening. Parties of sightseers front Batavia visited- the island in .order to see the volcano in eruption. It, was: regarded as improbable that, the eruption would become dangerous. Rut on “(it!) - August (be activitv of (he- volcano rapidly increased. Clouds of. black vapour were emitted, hiding tho island from view and rising to a height of seventeen miles. Loud explosions were heard, and a rain of pumice began to fall. The explosions grew louder, ami the size and density of the cloud increased, completely obscuring the sun and turning day into nigln. The cloud above th e crater was frequently lit up : by flashes of fire from (be volcano.

“Rv 10 o’clock on the morning ol Monday, 27th August, the rehearsals were over and the performance began,” wrote the late .Sir Robert Rail, an- eminent British scientist, in describing the great eruption. ‘‘An overture consisting of^two or three explosions was succeeded by a terrible convulsion, which tore awa" a large part of tbe island of Krnkotoa and scattered it to Ibe winds of heaven. In that final effort all records of previous explosions were completelv broken. The supreme effort it was which produced the .mightiest noise, as far as we can ascertain. that has ever been heard on this globe. “In the final explosion nearlv six square miles of tho island were blown a wav, leaving a rhasmfar below sea tevel. into which the waters rushed The resulting disturbance of the ocean surface, combined with the impact of enormous masses of falling material, set up gigantic waves, which swent oyer the low-lying shores of the-,Straits of Sunda. Towns and villages wore engulfed, and more than 36.000 people wore drowned. In some places the' sides of the hills were, washed away by the rising waters to a height o f 115 feet above -the. normal level .of the sea. Enormous quantities of uum'ice were hurled into the air and fell into the sea, where it accumulated over a largo area to a-height of four or five feet;-. The explosion was-heard all over the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines; and-in parts of Australia, 2009 miles from the scene. In "Batavia. 100 miles distant, the noise was doafening. From 7a.m. until 1 p.m. the town was almost in complete darkness, caused hy the clouds oj dust discharged into th e air by the volcano. Air waves. caused hy the (explosion circled tho earth four times, according to registrations on barographs in different' parts of the world. The water waves which devastated the neighboring shores gradually decreased as they spread over the ocean, but did not disappear until they had travelled many thousands of miles.”