The Book of Curiosities

by John Platts

On Thursday the fifth of August, the volcano appeared most violently agitated: a white and sulphureous smoke issued with unceasing impetuosity from its crater, one puff seeming to impel another; so that a mass of vapour was soon accumulated, to all appearance, four times the height and size of the volcano itself. These clouds of smoke were exceedingly white, resembling an immense accumulation of bales of the whitest cotton. In the midst of this very white smoke, vast quantities of stones, scoriæ, and ashes, were thrown up to the height of two thousand feet; and a quantity of liquid lava, seemingly very heavy, was lifted up just high enough to clear the rim of the crater, and take its way down the sides of the mountain. This lava, having run violently for some hours, suddenly ceased, just before it had reached the cultivated parts of the mountain, near four miles from the spot whence it issued.

The heat, all this day, was intolerable at the towns of Somma and Ottaiano; and was sensibly felt at Palma and Lauri, which are much farther off. Reddish ashes fell so thick on the two former, that the air was darkened to such a degree, that objects could not be distinguished at the distance of ten feet. Long filaments of a vitrified matter, like spun-glass, were mixed, and fell with these ashes; several birds in cages were suffocated; and the leaves of the trees in the neighbourhood of Somma were covered with white and very corrosive salt. About twelve at night, on the seventh, the fermentation of the mountain seemed greatly to increase. Our author was watching the motions of the volcano from the mole at Naples, which has a full view of it. Several awfully fine and picturesque effects had been observed from the reflection of the deep red fire within the crater of Vesuvius, and which mounted high amongst those huge clouds on the top of it; when a summer storm, called in that country a tropea, came on suddenly, and blended its heavy watery clouds with the sulphureous and mineral ones, which were already, like so many other mountains, piled up on the top of the volcano. At this moment a fountain of fire was shot up to an incredible height, casting so bright a light, that the smallest objects were clearly distinguishable at any place within six miles or more of Vesuvius. The black stormy clouds, passing swiftly over, and at times covering the whole or part of the bright column of fire, at other times clearing away and giving a full view of it, with the various tints produced by its reverberated light on the white clouds above, in contrast with the pale flashes of forked lightning that attended the tropea, formed such a scene as no combination of language can express. One of the king’s gamekeepers, who was out in the fields near Ottaiano while this storm was at its height, was surprised to find the drops of rain scald his face and hands; a phenomenon probably occasioned by the clouds having acquired a great degree of heat in passing through the above-mentioned column of fire.

On the eighth, the mountain was quiet till towards six P. M. when a great smoke began to gather over its crater; and about an hour after, a rumbling subterranneous noise was heard in the neighbourhood of the volcano; the usual throws of red-hot stones and scoriæ began and increased every instant. The crater, viewed through a telescope, seemed much enlarged by the violence of the explosions on the preceding night; and the little mountain on the top was entirely gone. About nine, a most violent report was heard at Portici and its neighbourhood, which shook the houses to such a degree as made the inhabitants run out into the streets. Many windows were broken, and walls cracked, by the concussion of the air on this occasion, though the noise was but faintly heard at Naples. In an instant, a fountain of liquid transparent fire began to rise, and, gradually increasing, arrived at last to the amazing height of ten thousand feet and upwards. Puffs of smoke, as black as can possibly be imagined, rapidly succeeded one another, and, accompanying the red-hot transparent and liquid lava, interrupted its splendid brightness here and there by patches of the darkest hue. Within these puffs of smoke, at the very moment of emission, a bright but pale electrical fire was observed playing briskly about in zigzag lines. The wind was south-west, and, though gentle, was sufficient to carry these puffs of smoke out of the column of fire, and a collection of them by degrees formed a black and extensive curtain behind it; in other parts of the sky it was perfectly clear, and the stars bright. A fiery fountain of such immense magnitude, on the dark ground just mentioned, made the finest contrast imaginable; and the blaze of it, reflected from the surface of the sea, which was at that time perfectly smooth, added greatly to this sublime spectacle. The lava, mixed with stones and scoriæ, having risen to the amazing height already mentioned, was partly directed by the wind towards Ottaiano, and partly falling, still red-hot and liquid, upon the top of Vesuvius, covered its whole cone, as well as that of the summit of Somma, and the valley between them.

The falling matter being nearly as inflamed and vivid as that which was continually issuing fresh from the crater, formed with it one complete body of fire, which could not be less than two miles and a half in breadth, and of the extraordinary height above mentioned, casting a heat to the distance of at least six miles round. The brushwood on the mountain of Somma was soon in a blaze; and the flame of it being of a different colour, from the deep red of the matter thrown out by the volcano, and from the silvery blue of the electrical fire, still added to the contrast of this most extraordinary scene. The black cloud increasing greatly, spread over Naples, and threatened the city with speedy destruction; for it was charged with electrical fire, which kept constantly darting about in bright zigzag lines. This fire, however, rarely quitted the cloud, but usually returned to the great column of fire whence it proceeded; though once or twice it was seen to fall on the top of Somma, and set fire to some dry grass and bushes. Fortunately, the wind carried back the cloud just as it reached the city, and had begun to occasion great alarm. The column of fire, however, still continued, and diffused such a strong light, that the most minute objects could be discerned at the distance of ten miles or more from the mountain. Mr. Morris informed our author, that at Sorrento, which is twelve miles distant from Vesuvius, he read the title page of a book by that volcanic light.

All this time the miserable inhabitants of Ottaiano were involved in the utmost distress and danger by the showers of stones which fell upon them, and which, had the eruption continued for a longer time, would most certainly have reduced their town to the same situation with Herculaneum and Pompeii.

The mountain of Somma, at the foot of which the town of Ottaiano is situated, hides Vesuvius from the view of its inhabitants; so that till the eruption became considerable, it was not visible to them. On Sunday night, when the noise increased, and the fire began to appear above the mountain of Somma, many of the inhabitants flew to the churches, and others were preparing to quit the town, when a sudden and violent report was heard; soon after which, they found themselves involved in a thick cloud of smoke and ashes, a horrid clashing noise was heard in the air, and presently fell a vast shower of stones and large pieces of scoriæ, some of which were of the diameter of seven or eight feet, which must have weighed more than 100lbs. before they were broken, as some of the fragments which Sir William Hamilton found in the streets still weighed upwards of 60lbs. When these large vitrified masses either struck against one another in the air, or fell on the ground, vivid sparks of fire proceeded from them, which communicated to every thing that was combustible. These masses were formed of the liquid lava; the exterior parts of which were become black and porous, by cooling in their fall through such a vast space; whilst the interior parts, less exposed, retained an extreme heat, and were perfectly red. In an instant, the town and country about it were on fire in many parts, for there were several straw huts in the vineyards, which had been erected for the watchmen of the grapes, all of which were burnt to the ground. A great magazine of wood in the heart of the town became one sheet of fire; and had there been much wind, the flames must have spread universally, and the inhabitants have perished in their houses; for it was impossible for them to make their escape by flight. Some, who attempted it with pillows, tables, chairs, the tops of wine casks, &c. on their heads, were either knocked down by the falling masses, or soon driven to make a speedy retreat under arches, and in the cellars of their houses. Many were wounded, but only two persons died of their wounds. To add to the horror of the scene, incessant volcanic lightning was darting its corruscations about the black cloud that surrounded the inhabitants, and the sulphureous smell and heat would scarcely allow them to draw their breath.

In this dreadful situation they remained about twenty-five minutes, when the volcanic storm ceased all at once, and Vesuvius assumed a sullen silence. Sometime after the eruption had ceased, the air continued greatly impregnated with electrical matter. The duke of Cottosiano told our author, that having, about half an hour after the great eruption had ceased, held a leaden bottle, armed with a pointed wire, out at his window at Naples, it soon became considerably charged: but whilst the eruption was in force, its appearance was too alarming to allow any one to think of such experiments. He was informed also by the prince of Monte Mileto, that his son, the duke of Populi, who was at Monte Mileto on the 8th of August, had been alarmed by a shower of cinders that fell there, some of which he had sent to Naples, weighing two ounces; and that stones of an ounce weight had fallen upon an estate of his, ten miles farther off. Monte Mileto is about thirty miles from the volcano. The Abbé Cagliani also related, that his sister, a nun in a convent at Manfredonia, had written to inquire after him, imagining that Naples must have been destroyed, when they, at so great a distance, had been so much alarmed by a shower of ashes which fell on the city at eleven P. M. as to open all the churches, and go to prayers. As the great eruption began at nine, these ashes must have travelled 100 miles in two hours.

Nothing could be more dismal than the appearance of Ottaiano after this eruption. Many of the houses were unroofed, and some lay half buried under the black scoriæ and ashes; all the windows toward the mountain were broken, and some of the houses themselves burnt; the streets were choked up with ashes, and in some narrow places it was not less than four feet deep. A few of the inhabitants, who had just returned, were employed in clearing them away, and piling them up in hillocks, to get at their ruined houses.

The palace of the prince of Ottaiano is situated on an eminence above the town, and nearer the mountain. The steps leading up to it were deeply covered with volcanic matter; the roof was totally destroyed, and the windows broken; but the house itself being strongly built, had not suffered much dilapidation. An incredible number of fragments of lava were thrown out during the eruption, some of which were of immense magnitude. The largest measured by Sir William Hamilton was 108 feet in circumference, and seventeen in height: this was thrown at least a quarter of a mile clear of the mouth of the volcano. Another, sixty-six feet in circumference, and nineteen in height, being nearly of a spherical figure, was thrown out at the same time, and fell near the former: this last had all the marks of being rounded, nay, almost polished, by continual exposure to rolling torrents, or the still rougher beat of a sea-shore. Our author conjectures that it might be a spherical volcanic salt, such as that of forty-five feet in circumference mentioned by M. de St. Fond, in his Treatise on Extinguished Volcanoes. A third, of sixteen feet in height, and ninety-two in circumference, was carried much farther, and lay in the valley between Vesuvius and the Hermitage: it appeared, also, from the large fragments that surrounded this mass, that it had been much larger while in the air.

Vesuvius continued to emit smoke for a considerable time after this great eruption, so that our author was apprehensive that another would soon ensue; but from that time nothing comparable to the above has taken place. From the period of this great eruption, to 1786, our informant kept an exact diary of the operations of Vesuvius, with drawings; which shewed, by the comparative quantity of smoke emitted each time, the degree of fermentation within the volcano. The operations of these subterraneous fires, however, appear to be very capricious and uncertain: one day there will be the appearance of a violent fermentation, and the next every thing will be calmed; but whenever there has been a considerable ejection of scoriæ and cinders, it has been constantly observed, that the lava soon made its appearance, either by boiling over the crater, or forcing its way through the crevices in the conical part of the mountain.