Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
5
The First Days of Graham Island
and the Last Days of Pompeii
Some time towards the end of June 1831, sailors passing between
Sciacca in southern Sicily and the island of Pantelleria, 120 km
(74 miles) towards Tunis, became gradually aware of unusual
turbulence in the water. The sea appeared to convulse, and shocks
were felt on the hulls of boats. This was not uncommon: such
convulsions had been reported before by sailors in volcanic areas.
Captain Swinburne of hms
Rapid
noticed it on 28 June, and
over the next two or three days the shocks became more fre-
quent. Local fishermen reported the sea becoming muddy, and
bubbling. Their first optimistic thoughts were that a huge shoal
of fish had appeared, but very soon hundreds of dead fish floated
to the surface, and the air that bubbled up gave off a sulphurous
stink.ยน Over the course of the following days, Sciacca suffered
earthquakes; there was thunder and lightning; silver spoons
turned rapidly black in the acidic air. A column of smoke, which
many assumed came from a steamboat sailing to Malta, was
visible far out at sea. The sea around the emerging island -
for that is what it was - soon became alive with boats from Sicily,
Naples, Sardinia and Malta, as well as from Britain, France and
Spain, marvelling at this new manifestation of the power, un-
predictability and opportunity of nature.
The British vessels hms
Briton
and hms
Rapid
, sent from
Malta by Vice Admiral Henry Hotham, were joined on 17 July
by the brigs hms
Adelaide
and hms
Philomel
and the cutter hms
Hind
. The despatch of five British naval ships suggests intense
political interest at the very least. By now, the island had grown
