Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-10-24
DESTRUCTION OF AMER.
n SEA CAPTAINS STORY OF THE
TERRIBLE UPHEAVAL.

Thrilling Experience Oh the SteaInsu'p
Anerly-SaIlinG in Total Darkness
Through CIouds OF Ashes from Kraks-
toa's Crater-ToAsed on the Crest of =
Tidal Wave 600 Feet High-The In
quilting OF AMER.
Tomorrow there will be due in port a
steamship which has had one OF the most
Ter arksble earthquake experiences ever
told. Fridays TWO shocks revived the
H1agging interest in seismic disturbances
land started afresh stories OF unusual ex-
periences. But one more wonderful than
any that has yet been published IS con-
nected with the history of the steamship
Auerlv.
Three years ago the ship was command
ed by Capt. Strachan, who is now in the
ship brokerage business on the Bay. In
k-August. 1893, he was at Foo Chow and
Hong Kong in China after tea. When the
cargo was aboard he steamed down to
Singapore. Having taken on water, coal
and passengers he cleared thence on Satur-
day, Aug. 20. Running down along the east
coast of Sumatra he entered Banco strait.
AT 10 O'Clock the next morning noise
1ike distant thunder was heard, and by
moon it sounded like terrific cannonading
Tar off to the southwest. The sky became
down before midday was past.
IN SHOWER OF ASHES.
Some 900 Chinese were aboard as pas
iengers, and they were seen holding their
garments in much the same position that
woman would hold her apron if she was
Trying to catch 1t full of snow. The
chinese cook was asked what his coun-
trymen were doing, and he replied ''that
they were catching ashes" which, he de-
plared, blasted llkee hellee." The ship
was in truth passing through a light
Shower of ashes. AS the vessel sped on
1.-The caunonading grew louder and the
ashes fell thicker. At sunset the air was
was haZy, and objects a short distance off
could not be made out. A little later a
dense black cloud spread itself over the
heavens, except from the zenith down
almost to the horizon on the southwest.
a light ship, which should nave been seen
twenty miles off on a clear night, gm-
mered but feebly when passed half a mile
under the ships lee.
At 4 O'Clock in the morning Capt.
StrachRn turned in, leaving instructions
10 be called at 3. Half an hour later the
FIRST officer sent for him to come ON deck
and see wonderful phenomenon.
THE HEAVENS ON FIRE.
AS be stepped out of his cabin he saw
flash after flash shoot across the heavens.
land with hardly an interval. They showed
every color Of the prism and dissolved
from one hue to another with Impercepti-
BILE rapidly. Meanwhile the reports,
now louder than any cannonadng ever
beard, seemed almost continuous. Now
and then there would be moment when
the explosions would die away tor a mo-
ment, only to burst forth again in tre-
mendous peal, which would be succeeded
by others so rapidly that il sounded like
1he roll of Titanic thunder. The country
was a volcanic one, and the cause Of the
explosions and the flashes Of light were
attributed to a volcanic eruption. Wher
day should have broke not a ray was to
be seen. Stlll the chip was kept on her
course through heavy shower OF ashes.
"A strong breeze was blowing from the
southwest. and at every atmosphere
wave the barometers fuctuated an inch
and half.
IN TOTAL DARKNESS.
One man could not tell who was stand
ing alongside of him except by his voice.
Finally, when out in the Java sea and
within an hour or two's run of AMER, the
sulphurous smell became so oppressive
and the hot ashes ana cinders fell so
thickly that the Captain decided TO turn
and run back. This he did and anchored
within Ealling distance of the North
Watcher, the nOrthernmOst of the Thou
tand Islands, in eleven fathoms of water.
lie was then some sixty miles from krak-
atoa, the volcano which was in q state OF
eruption.
While lying at anchor there about /
O'Clock Monday afternoon there suddenly
came a heavy swell from the southwest,
striking the ship on her forequarter and
knocking her half around. 1t seemed as
il every timber would be torn loose. She
quivered from bow to stern and creaked
in every JOINT. The shock could scarcely
have been harder had she struck bank
with full head of steam on. She strained
Bt her anchor until 1t seemed ready to
part. The crew was ordered to pay out
more cable, but IL took a run on them and
spun out to the last foot.
TOSSED BY THE WAVES.
Wave followed wave and threatened to
batter tine vessel to pieces. In short
time the heavy seas subsidized, and the
ship swung around and around by her
Fable. There had been an immense tidal
wave, and when it passed the sea seemed
all In a swirl. BY O'Clock the darkness
had partly cleared, the terrific explosions
had ceased and the ashes no longer fell.
The next morning, Tuesday, the Anerly
steamed over toward AMER. AS the main
land was approached hardly a familiar
object was TO be seen. Where once there
had been a low coast nothing was visible
except the sea and tree tops protrudinR
above the water. The ocean was covered
with floating pumice, debris and dead
bodies. AMER itself was completely gone.
Not a steeple, telegraph pole, or even the
big tree which was known in all that part
Df the world was 10 be seen. The whole
country had been swept bare by the tre-
mendous food, and not soul was spared
70 tell the tale.
THE MOUNTAIN HALF SUNK.
KraKatoa, which rose up $500 feet out
OF the sea, had split open, and one-half
had toppled over and disappeared. The
pumice covered the sea ten feet deep, and
the ships speed was cut down from
twelve knots to five an hour. Two or
three islands had disappeared, and
twenty-seven had raised their heads. Not
"a living person was TO be found. One
hundred thousand souls were buried be-
meath volcanic debris or swept off the
face Of the land by the volcanic wave. A
steep wooded cliff, 800 feet high, showed
that the water had raised two-thIrds of
its height. At the least calculation the
wave was 200 feet high.
The cataclysm was the most stupendous
on record. -Four thousand natives, who
were working in a quarry on an island
near AMER, were swallowed up in an in
slant.
AN ISLAND sPRANG UP.
The floor Of the ocean over wide area