Abstract
ON Friday last the Times printed some interesting extracts from a letter (dated Labuan, July 11, 1892) by Mr. George Ormsby, a magistrate in the British North Borneo Company's Service, containing an account of the recent eruption in Sangir, and of a visit paid to the spot immediately afterwards. Mr. Ormsby left Sandakan on June 4 in the s.s. Normanby, and arrived at Menado on the morning of the 7th. After a visit to Govontalo the vessel returned to Menado on the 10th, and here Mr. Ormsby heard that there had been an eruption on some of the islands to the north, and that the s.s. Hecuba, which had arrived at Menado just after the Normanby had started for Govontalo, had been chartered by the Dutch Government, and had gone out to find the scene of the eruption and to render assistance. On the 12th the Hecuba was sighted coming into Menado, and Mr. Ormsby and the skipper of the Normanby went on board as soon as she dropped anchor. “The captain,” says Mr. Ormsby, “told us that he first went to an island called Siow, as the volcano there was known to be active. He found the island covered with ashes, but was told that the eruption had taken place at Sangir, an island about 30 miles further north. He went on there, and found it buried in ashes; they were digging the houses out at Tarona, the port. The cocoanut trees were all destroyed, and the loss of life was unknown. The volcano was slightly in eruption when he arrived. He went along the coast, stopping at the villages, and sending rice ashore, as the people were without food. He said some of the people were frightfully burned and maimed.”
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The Eruption at Sangir. Nature 46, 457–458 (1892). https://doi.org/10.1038/046457a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/046457a0