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LXX. A Narrative of the Eruption of a Volcano in the 

 Sea off the Island of St. Michael. By S. Tillard, 

 Esq. Captain in the Royal Nuvy. Communicated by the 

 Right Hon. Sir JostPH Banks, Bart. K.B.P.R.S.* 



Approaching the island of St. Michael's, on Sunday the 

 12th ot June 1811, in His Majesty's sloop Sabrina under 

 my command, we occasionally observed, rising iji the ho- 

 rizon, two or three columns of smoke, such as would have 

 been occasioned by an action between two ships, to which 

 cause we universally attributed its origin. This opinion 

 was, however, in a very short time changed, from the 

 smoke increasing and ascending in much larger bodies than 

 could possibly have been produced by such an event ; and 

 having heard an account, prior to our sailing from Lisbon, 

 that in the preceding January or February a volcano had 

 burst out within the sea near St. Michael's, we immediately 

 concluded that the smoke we saw proceeded from that 

 cause, and on our anchoring the next morning in the road 

 of Ponta del Gada, we found this conjecture correct as to 

 the cause, but not to the time ; the eruption of January 

 having totally subsided, and the present one having only 

 burst forth two days prior to our approach, and about three 

 miles distant from the one before alluded to. 



Desirous of examining as minutely as possible a conten- 

 tion so extraordinary between two such powerful elements, 

 I set off from the city of Ponta del Gada on the morning of 

 the 14th, in company with Mr. Read, the Consul General 

 of the Azores, and two other gentlemen. After riding 

 about twenty miles across the NW. end of the island of 

 St. Michael's, we came to the edge of a cliff from whence 

 the volcano burst suddenly upon our view in tlie most ter- 

 rific and awful grandeur. It was only a short mile from 

 the base of the cliff, which was nearly perpendicular, and 

 formed the margin of the sea; this cliff being as nearly as 

 I could judge from three to four hundred feet high. To 

 give vou an ade(|uate idea ol the scene by description is 

 far bevond n)y powers ; but for your satisfaction I shall 

 attempt it. 



Imagine an immense body of smoke rising from the sea, 

 the surface which was marked by the silvery ripling of the 

 waves, occasioned by the light and steady ijrcezes incidental 

 to th e climates in summer. In a quiescent state, it had 

 the appearance of a circular cloud revolving on the water 



• From the Pitiloiophiral Transactions for 181?, part i. 



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