3-008-324 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Eruption of Mount Vesuvius: the Craters at Midnight, 1862. The volcano '...in all its terrible grandeur, from a sketch by Colonel Peard...a black column rose majestically, and was carried off by the wind far over the sea, while forked lightning, as it were, and brilliant lights such as Roman candles, played about the crater...At every shot that was fired by the mountain there rose a cloud of ashes...we could see at intervals showers, nay, storms, of ashes falling like avalanches on land and sea, and still the black gorgeous masses rolled on towards Capri, obscuring the coast which lies opposite to Naples. Thunder and lightning, or the roaring of Vesuvius, and electric lights, were frequent incidents in this awful scene; the latter, shot up from the mouth of the crater to the summit of the dark cone, played about its involutions, and revelled, as it were, in the license of freedom...Towards sunset we marked that effect of colour which is only to be seen in southern latitudes, for then the mass of dark cloud which hung over Vesuvius and the entire bay was lit up with the most delicate roseate tints. Then came on grey eve and darker night, rendered still more so by the electric flashes which continued to dance above Vesuvius'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.