The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1890-08-21


discovered running to tho westward
and setting US farther to the right than
we desired.
within twenty yards Of the shore,
the water appeared shoal, and the sea
broke; but as there was no appearance
OF surf on the beach, we kept steadily
on till the boat struck the ground. The
inlon-1ack was then planted; such OBJ
seryations were made as the pressure Oh
circumstances and the Imminent danger
OF fresh eruption every moment would
admit Of; bucketful OF the materials OF
which the island seemed chiefly com.
posed was collected, and We re-em-
barked. The form OF the crater is near
ly perfect circle, and .compiete alone
Its whole circumference, excepting fol
about two hundred and fifty yards on
the southeast side, (which are broken
.andlow, not apparently above three fee,
high.
The height of the highest part sup
posed by the eye to be about one hun
dred and eightySfeet. The outer diam.
eter is, ! think, almost six hundred and
forty yards, and the inner about four
hundred. The whole circuit of the
island conceive TO be from mile and
aquarter to a mile and third The
fragments brought away are compact
and heavy, and the whole surface Of the
island is dense and perfectly hard under
the feet. No variety of stones was pro-
cured, nor any lava; neither did / see
any jets or streams of lava while on the
bn ft,x
hot when collected, and thought the
temperature OF the sea close to the shore
some what higher than farther out, al
though Of this | was not very certain.
The latitude of the island is thirty
seven degrees eleven minutes north, the
longitude twelve degrees ferty-four
minutes east of Greenwich,
The island went on increasing in sire,
and, according to some accounts, was, in
few days, more than two hundred feet
in height and three miles in ciretlmfer-
ence. After attaining this, its maximum
magnitude, it appears to have been
gradually reduced by the action of the
waves, for on the 25th of August it was
only two miles round, land en-the Sd of
September it was no more than three
-fifths of mile in circumference, while
its greatest height did not exceed one
hundred and seven feet.
It appears that the volcano matter,
during its election, had found second
face, for, IN the month Of August
great ebullition and agitation of the.
sea occurred, accompanied by the con
slant ascension Of a column Of dense,
Hght=eofnrad steam.- By the end OF DC.
tober, not vestige Of the crater. re-
manned, and, with the exception of a
small heap of sand and scori@, the
whole island was nearly on level with
the sea. In short, it at length entirely
disappeared, and n dangerous reef of oval
shape occupied the submarine site of
Graham Island.
There are some remarkable facts con-
nected with this phenomenon. A bout
fortnight before the eruption was visi-
bic, Sir Pulteney Malcolm, in passing
over the position of tho volcano to his
ship experienced several severe shocks,
as IL he had struck on a sandbank, and
which he attributed TO an earthquake.
The same shocks were felt on the west
coast of Sicily. A circumstance still
more worthy OF notice is that there is
tradition Z. Malta of "a volcano existing
on the same spot about the commence
ment Of the last century; and there is
-extant an old chart of the Mediter--
ranean, which lays down shoal with
only four fathoms of water on it, and
called Larmour's Breakers, within
mile Of the same latitude and longitude.
Not long before the event took place, a
naval officer, in surveying this part of
the Mediterranean, found depth of
more than one hundred fathoms of
water on the spot, where there is now
only about ten feet. s
: There are other modern instances of
the formation OF islands by submarine
eruptions, as that of Sabrina in the year
1911, off st. Michael's, one of the group
of islands called the Azores; but-no oc-
currence OF the kind has attracted so
much attention or been SO infinitely de-
scribed as the appearance.andd disappear
ance ofGraham island. captain Marvin
Newbold, in Ny. Ledger.
apHySiOi CfY OF ECSTASY