The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1922-05-23
AN ETERNAL MYSTERY;
LITTLE KNOWN OF SEA
ISLANDS ARISE OR DISAPPEAR
AMID FIERY TUMULT, TIDAL
WAVES PLAY HAVOC, WAT
Frs CHANGE HUE.

Like a page from Conrad or Kip
ling is the description OF the adventure
encountered by the navy collier Prom
ethus off the coast OF North Carolina.
And, like 'other experiences of ships
from time to time, it reminds us that
we have only a bowling acquaintance
with the ocean, which, like woman
never tells US half her secrets, says the
New York Sun.
A subterranean earthquake is the
navy departments guess at the cause
OF the otherwise unexplained gigantic
seas, thirty feet high, raging Tor two
hours on a calm day, while thousands
of porpoises leaped in the air.
Sometimes a great area OF the sea
turns milk-white and nobody knows
WHY. The last case OF the kind was
testified to by the passengers and crew
OF Japanese merchantmen between
Yokohoma and Hongkong in 1904.
They described the sea as being snow
white. opaque and luminous over an
area that it took the vessel six hours
to cross.
Sea Turned Yellow.
A few years later a yellow streak
developed off our own coast, parallel
to the Gulf stream and three miles
wide, extending from Cape Florida to
Cape Hatteras. In that case, too, the
puzzled oceanographers could only
hazard the conjecture that subterra
mean earthquake was at the root OF the
phenomenon
How would you like to see the sea
boiling and casting out great stones
and soaring geysers, with detonations
like cannon and clouds of scalding
steam with sulphurous odor? Such a
boiling and decorating and stone cast
ing performance was witnessed at the
Azores in connection with a violent
earthquake in 1906 1t was a great
year for eruptions from the bottom OF
the sea. The 10000 inhabitants of the
island of Santorin, in the Greek archi-
pelago, were treated to the thrilling
spectacle OF a new island being forged
by the fires of Vulcan in their beauti-
Jul harbor.
They woke up to find the bay
lake of fire. STEPPED as they are in the
old Attic mythology, woven in curl
Gus patterns with Christian legend,
they explained that Apollo was caus-
ing virgin island to arise as he had
done in the case of the island OF Nanh
(anciently Anaphi, the convulsive birth
of which is described in Pliny).
New Island Born.
Red flames leaped ten and twenty
feet above the sea, accompanied by
explosions of submarine thunder Ev-
cry circumstance of the Internal pro-
ceeding was such as to inspire terror
and imperil life, yet the Santorinians
lived for three years under daily bonn
bardment, with horribly active ma
rine volcano giving magnificent imi-
tation of Hades at their doors.
The seed of the new island became
visible after few days-a red hot
cone that vomited stones, slime" and
fire. 1t grew from hour to hour and
from day to day, and after a while
new fiery SUBMITS appeared in the
kissing and seething bay. By slow de-
grees they all became united by mass
es of half fluid matter" probably
lava, the intense heat of which made
the environing Mediterranean a caul-
dron.
Foreign savants and engineers who
focked from all over Europe to wit
ness the rare phenomenon saw jets
Of vapor rise to heights of FIVE thous-
and feet. The sea seemed to be literal
ly on fire, and the illumination was
continuous. When the new island had
risen to a height of five hundred feet
and the fiery forging began to abate,
as if Vulcan had accomplished his
purpose, the inhabitants named the
baby island Mount George l."
Another new island was formed
year or two later off the coast of
Hawaii from lava that flowed sixty
miles into the sea during the tremend-
Gus eruption of Mauna Loa. On the
parent island the earth opened and a
tidal wave sixty feet high swept hous-
es, cattle and gardens over the terri
fed land