The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1892-06-23
MkNITOWOC. WIS. JUNE %. 1892
A BOAT WITH A HISTORY.
Memento of the Most Fearful Volcanic
Upheavai in Modern Times.

Tourists who visit Batavia nowadays
are quite out of the fashion, SAYS the
Philadelphia Record, if they fail to
make the passage through Sunda
strait. and see all that is left of kraka-
tau, and the vestiges of the ruin
wrought by the terrible eruption of
1888. If they push up the Bay of Lam
pong. on the Sumatra side of the chan
mel, they are likely to land on the low
shores occupied by the village of
Telokh-Betong. and hire carts for
short iaunt into the interior; and when
they have gone about two miles they
will pause to take in a curious scene,
for here is seen one of the most inter-
esting results still visible of the great
wave Of krakatau.
There was just one man amid all
that wild scene of death and devasta-
tion who was not overwhelmed in the
common ruin. He escaped, while forty
thousand perished. He was the light
house keeper who lived alone on an
isolated rock in the strait 1t was
broad daylight when Krakatau burst
asunder. but in few moments the
heavens were so densely shrouded by
dust. mud and smoke that the dark
ness of midnight covered all the chan
mel. The guardian of the lighthouse
was in the lantern 200 feet above the
sea rcyel. Here he remained safe and
sound in the midst of the terrible COM
motion.
He felt the trembling of his light
house, as it was so dark that he could
not see the threatened danger. He
did not know that tremendous wave
had almost overwhelmed the light
house. and that its crest had nearly
touched the base of the lantern. He
did not hear it because he was deaf
cned by the awful detonation of Kra-
katau.
In few moments, however, the
wave, over n hundred feet in height,
had swept along a total coast line of
nearly hundred miles on both sides
Of the channel
Scores of populous villages were
buried deep beneath the avalanche of
water. Great groves of cocoanut
palms were levclcd to the ground.
Promontories were carried away New
bays We're dug out of the yielding lit
toral. Every work of human hands,
except that lighthouse was destroyed,
and 1000 persons perished in the del
uge that mounted from the seas or be-
meath the rain of mud that filled the
heavens.
A little side wheel steamboat was
0orne on the top of that wave through
-Jg9sts and jungle over two miles into
the country, and was left as the wave
receded. 1t will be remembered that
for weeks before the final cataclysm at
krakatau, the volcano was in state
OF eruption. Pleasure parties were
made up at Batavia to visit the vol
cano. Not few people landed on the
island. little dreaming that in the
tNinkling of an eve twO-thirds of it
was to be blown into the air as though
shot from Il gun. They wished to get
as near as they thought they might
safely Tcnture to the growing, steam
ing crater. This little steamboat, on
the day before the explosion, carried
one of the parties to the island. There
were only twenty on board besides the
crew They spent n couple of hours
around the island, and then steamed
up the deep and narrow bay of Lam
pong and it is supposed they anchored
for the night in front of the bic town
of Telolh-Betong. which was one of
the largest settlements on the south
coast of Sumatra.
The Inflated pleasure party was
never heard of again. 1t is supposed
that the boat was turned over and
over like an egg-shell in the surf. 1t
had every appearance Of such rough
usage when it was found some months
later. The machinery and furniture
were badly broken and were strewn
about in the greatest confusion. But
the vessel held together and was finally
set down in good shape, erect on her
keel.
Only two bodies were found in the
vessel. They were, of course, below
deck. As il was morning when she
was picked up by the wave, it is sup
posed that nearly everybody was on
shore. Not Il vestige remains of the
villages that lined the water edge.
But the hulk of this little boat still
stands, battered and broken, though
as erect as when she plowed the chan
mel, and she is the most curious and
interesting relic of the greatest vol
canic eruption of modern times.