The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-12-15
A TERRIBLE TINE.
Darkness on the Face of the Great
Deep.
Story of a Man Who Saw Something Of the
Ruin Wrought by the Awful Earth
quake in lava.

BOsToN, MASS, Dec. I3.-The bark VIM.
II. Hesse and the ship Anahuac arrived
last week, the former from Manila aud
the latter from Calcutta. The former
had VOYAGE of l95 ana the latter of l39
days. Captain Baker, of the former, says
his bark was directly in the vicinity Of
Angler at the time of the terrible dis
aster which killed thousands and
changed the face of the land in and
around Sunda Straits.
He left Batavia August 26th, and on
the following morning at daylight those
on deck noticed a heavy black cloud Tis-
ing from the westward and ObscuTing
the sun. At this time the barmeteT COM
menced dropping to 1910, and suddenly
rising to 30.70. All hands were called,
and sail taken off as fast as possible.
Heavy showers of sand aud ashes began,
falling, completely covering the decks
masts and spars TO the depth of several
inches By noon it had grown darker
than the DARKEST night, and commenced
to blow a hurTlcau but, strange to
say, the sea remained perfectly smooth.
Heavy rumbliug5 like distant cannO-
nading were heard, and at intervals the
sky was lighted up by lightning flashes,
aud strong smell of sulphur permeated
the atmosphere and made it hard to
breathe. An hands were terribly affect
ed by this awful scene, and many of
the sailors thought the world was COM
ing to an end. Throughout the gale the
tide set strongly to the westward, and
the bark drove through the water at the
rate of fourteen knots per hour. At 3 p.
III. the sky commenced to grow little
lighter, but the ashes still continued to
fall like snow.
On the next day the bark entered the
Straits of runda, ami the extent Of the
damage done was plainly to be seen.
Whole islands had sunk, and those that
remained had changed In form. The
north western part Of KrackatOa Island
had disappeared, and EerlatOn and Long
lslaudr, heretofore covered with trees,
were completely bare. The captain says:
eve saw very large number OF dead
bodies and the waters for miles around
were covered with trees aud dead bodies.
The sea for sixty miles was a sea OF flava.
We experienced hurricane from north
north east, with tremendous sea, W hich
lasted three days. During this time the
decks and cabin were flooded with
water, and portion of The buiwarks and
everything movable on deck was washed
away"
Captain Summers, of the Anahuac,
says: "Ou August 9th, at 1880 a. H.,
while becalmed, my attention was at
tracted by a loud report to the north
west. Thinking at the time that it was
some mau of war exercising her heavy
ordnance, [ sent the chief mate alOft TO
see if there were any vessels in view.
While ne was alOft four more loud re-.
ports followed each other in quick sue
cessiOn, which made the vesselQ culver in
every beam. | then thought it was
heavy shock of earthquake. Shortly
after the reports the sun became OBJ
scured, and it became right dark, al
though it had been a bright, clear,
sunny day. The sun was not visible at
$3.50 p. H., nor for the rest of the evening.
On the morning of the 2Sth | was as
tOnished to find the deck covered with
sand and the sea full OF pumice-stOne.
The sand continued falling for fully
fOrty-eight hours, and was swept off the
decks by shOyelfuls."