The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1906-09-26
THE OCEAN
WAS STEAMING
PHENOMENON FOR WHICH NO
SATISFACTORY EXPLANATION
HAS YET BEEN PROVIDED.

The following is from the Hawaii
Herald Of September 20.
"The time has come" the Walrus said
ITO talk of many things,
OF shoes and ships and sealing wax
of Cabbages and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot
And whether pigs have wings"
When the lamented Lewis Carol
wrote those whimsical lines he prob
ably had no idea that the sea was
occasionally boiling hot 1t has been
left to Hawaii to supply the instance
and now nobody should be astonished
if they have to file the pin-feathers off
their pigs shoulders to prevent their
sprouting wings.
The phenomenon Of steaming sea
was observed at daybreak yesterday off
Hakalau. 1t was so remarkable a sight
that the most unscientifc observers
commented on it and speculated as to
the cause.
DR.. Archer Irwin, who lives at Ha-
kalau said to the Herald that the scene
was most curious, but he would not
venture an explanation of it.
when 1 rose, at about $50 l noticed
that the sea had an unusual appear
ance," he said. "At first l thought it
was a mist hanging low down but it
soon developed that the bank of mois-
ture was steam which was rising from
| the sea. The sun came up and the
morning was perfectly clear. The sky
above was unclouded but this remark
able steam effect continued to come up
from the ocean. 1t was a complete
band of, 1 should judge, between three
and four hundred yards in width and
was of an irregular bow shape. Had
it been a cloud the slight breeze would
/ have blown II away but as a matter
of fact it remained in the same place,
| constantly developing. l had no means
of taking the temperature of the water
but l am thoroughly convinced that the
phenomenon was caused by some sub
+ marine heat"
| The steam cloud was also observed
at Pepeekeo but as it was so much
! farther away no conclusions as to it's
! origin were formed.
The steam continued to rise for over
two hours when the strength of the
SUMS rays probably caused it to dissi-
pate quickly. BY this curious occur
! renee considerable strength is lent to
the theory that the fish cast ashore
some weeks ago were, as held by some
persons, really scalded and that their
curious appearance was not due to
partial decomposition.
In casual discussion the opinion was
hazarded that the thermal change might
be due to flow of lava under the sea
but as there has been absolutely no
volcanic activity on the islands for
some time past this view can only be
considered as a mere conjecture.
Captain Pierce the local agent of
the Matson line when informed of the
disturbance in the sea at Hakalau yes
terday morning told an interesting story
of just such a disturbance which he
observed off the coast of Japan some
five years ago.
"Of course 1 did not see the steam
rising from the sea at Hakalau" he
said to the Herald but the descriptions
of it reminds me very much of what I
saw about two hundred miles from YO-
kahama about five years ago when I
was in command of the U. s. transport
Sheridan. The second officer called me
to the bridge to see the curious APP
pearance of the sea. 1t was just about
daylight and the sea was simply pop
ping up every now and again with jets
of vapor. I honestly did not know
what it all meant but look at the
chart showed me that We were passing
over place which was marked as a
submarine volcano-with a query after
it,
Il slowed down and for quite a while
we proceeded through this sea. The
weather was not rough in any way
but now and then these curious puffs
of vapor would burst from the sur
face
Il don't pretend to explain it, but l
have always had the idea that the
trouble was not i'm any way volcanic
The warm current from the south and
the cold current from the north meet
off the Japan coast and it seems to
me that the disturbance might easily
be caused by the sudden meeting of
the waters of these different tempera-
lures Inside of a few hours the tenn
perature of the water jumped from fifty
degrees to seventy
81 would not make any suggestion
as to the Hakalau matter but it GER
tainly reminds me of the experience
I had in Japan"
NEW Al Ia III