The 1883 eruption of the volcano on the islet of Krakatoa was probably the greatest in historical times. Krakatoa is in the Sunda Strait, between Sumatra and Java. This island and several others in the vicinity are the remnant of an ancient volcano which was probably about 10,000 feet high and had a crater about 25 miles in circumference. For more than 200 years there had been no volcanic activity on the island; it was covered with rich vegetation.
In 1880, Krakatoa was rocked by a series of earthquakes; these were no slight tremors for they were felt as far off as northern Australia. The eruption proper began on May 20, 1883, with a series of explosions loud enough to be heard a hundred miles away. The next day ashes were scattered on both sides of the strait. An investigating party visited Krakatoa and the neighboring islands on May 26 and found them covered with snowlike white dust; a column of vapor rose 10,000 feet in the air, scattering showers of pumice stone and dust. This state of affairs continued through June, July and August.
The culmination of the eruptions was reached on August 26 and 27, when a series of mighty blasts rocked the island. The whole northern portion of Krakatoa was blown away; the land was replaced by a huge submarine cavity. The forests of the surrounding islands were buried under thick layers of fragmentary materials.
Officers and passengers on ships that happened to be in the Sunda Strait at the time of the eruption provided details. Captain Wooldridge of the Sir Robert Sale wrote that on the 20th the sky presented "a most terrible appearance" and that the cloud above the mountain was like an immense pine, the stem and branches formed by volcanic flashes. After sunset the cloud looked like a "blood-red curtain with edges of all shades of yellow," and lightning zigzagged through it. Captain Watson of the Charles Bal told of chains of fire that rose in the sky and of "balls of white fire" that continually rolled down the mountain. Startling electrical phenomena occurred. A peculiar pinkish flame streaked from the clouds, and balls of fire studded the mastheads and yardarms of the ships.
The mainmast conductor of the Batavian ship Gouverneur-Generaal Loudon, fifty miles away, was struck by lightning six times. There was a continuous downpour of phosphorescent mud, which soon covered the masts, rigging and decks of the ship.
All day on August 27 the Northam Castle and the three vessels mentioned were in pitch darkness and under a continual rain of pumice stone and dust. So violent were the explosions that they were heard three thousand miles away. They caused some of the most tremendous air waves that have ever been known. Windows were broken, walls cracked and lamps overthrown a hundred miles away and some air vibrations traveled several times round the world. By the sudden dislodgment of vast volumes of rock below water, huge waves were sent sweeping over the adjacent shores of Java and Sumatra at the rate of nearly four hundred miles an hour. Towns and villages were destroyed, two lighthouses swept away and nearly 40,000 people drowned.
