SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH EARTHQUAKES 



Quite a number of the mummies were 

 brought down to the ship and were ulti- 

 mately sent to the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion in Washington, where, I presume, 

 the curious can inspect them at any time. 



It is now known that while Arica was 

 probably the center of disturbance, the 

 shocks were felt nearly i,ooo miles, and 

 great destruction was occasioned in Bo- 

 livia. The beach line of the ocean was 

 raised from 2 to 20 feet for over 600 

 miles. 



The tidal wave was felt at the Sand- 

 wich Islands, 5,580 nautical miles distant, 

 only 12 hours and 37 minutes later than 

 it had broke on the desolated shores of 

 Peru. 



de;solation and de;ath 



At Arica we found but desolation and 

 death. Where once had stood that pretty 

 little city, a flat, sandy plain stretched 

 before us. Except on the outskirts, higher 

 up on the mountain, not a house marked 

 the spot. Built to withstand earthquake 

 shocks, the houses were low — few boast- 

 ing a second story — with light roofs and 

 thick walls of "adobe brick" (sun-dried 

 mud). The shocks first leveled them, 

 then the waves dissolved and washed 

 them away. On the higher slopes a few 

 houses, part of a church, and a hideous 

 mass of debris, composed of everything, 

 including dead bodies, was piled 20 or 30 

 feet high. This was all that remained of 

 Arica. The loss of life was proportionate 

 to the destruction of property. We could 

 not ascertain how great it was, but as all 

 provisions, clothing, and even fresh water 

 were destroyed, the pitiful remnant of 

 the few hundred persons who gathered 



about the "Wateree;' living on our stores, 

 in tents made of our sails, told the story 

 as could no figures. Afloat, with the ex- 

 ception of the crew of the "Wateree," 

 nearly all perished. 



It was three weeks before relief came. 

 Then can well be imagined the swelling 

 of the hearts and the mist that dimmed 

 the eyes of our sailor men as we looked 

 across the water and hailed the stars and 

 stripes floating from the mast-head of 

 the old United States frigate "Poivhatati' 

 as she steamed majestically into that 

 desolated harbor. Her decks were filled 

 with all possible stores and supplies, 

 which were soon distributed among the 

 stricken and helpless who had sought our 

 aid and succor. 



Careful survey of the "Wateree" 

 proved that while she was practically un- 

 injured, it would be impossible to launch 

 her; so, after removing the most valu- 

 able of her equipment, she was sold at 

 auction to a hotel company. An epidemic 

 of yellow fever broke up that enterprise, 

 and the old ship was afterward used suc- 

 cessively as a hospital, a store-house, and, 

 lastly, a target for great guns during the 

 Peruvian-Chilian war. But her gaunt 

 iron ribs still rise above the shifting 

 sands, a fitting monument to one of the 

 greatest of modern earthquakes.* 



*See "The World's Most Cruel Earth- 

 quake," by Charles W. Wright, Nationai, 

 Geographic Magazine, April, 1909. 



"The Recent Eruption of Mount Katmai," 

 by George C. Martin, National Geographic 

 Magazine, February, 1913. 



"Taal Volcano and Its Recent Destructive 

 Eruption," by Dean C. Worcester, National 

 Geographic Magazine, April, 1912. 



