Floating Pumice

Abstract

REFERRING to a note in the last number of NATURE (p. 532) giving an account of a steamer's having encountered vast quantities of pumice in the Indian Ocean, it may be of interest to record that after passing, in the R.M.S. Quetta, the Straits of Sunda on July 9 last (having sailed close under the then active Krakatoa), we traversed a continuous field, unbroken as far as the eye could reach, of pumice, every day till the evening of the 12th, when our position must have been six hours (± 60 miles) to the west of our noon position, 93° 54′ E. long, and 5° 53′ S. lat. Capt. Templeton assured me that there was, singularly enough a current against us all the way from the Straits of one-third of a mile per hour. There can be no doubt that this pumice came from Krakatoa, and possibly also that mentioned by the steamer in your note last week. The pumice knobs were all water-worn, and a few had barnacles of about one inch in length growing on them. It will be recollected that the eruption first broke out on May 22 and 23.