“Aetna”

Date

5-2-1812

Newspaper

Western Spectator

Page and Column

Page 4, Column 2

Newspaper Location

Marietta, Ohio

Serial Number

1296

Abstract

Report of a volcanic eruption at Aetna in Sicily on October 27, 1812

Transcript

AETNA. The following is an extract of a letter from Mesina, dated Dec. 22-"I dare say you have heard in England of the eruption of Mount AEtna, which took place on the 27th Oct; On the same day a great quantity of very fine pulverized cinders fell in Messina, a distance of 50 or 60 miles, and some carried to a much greater distance. This grand work of nature prompted a party of us to be witnesses to its great operations, and accordingly we set off on the 4th of Nov. when it was burning in its most violent state. The sight was beyond description grand, and having seen it, no consideration could have deprived me of a nearer view of so great a curiosity. The burning lava had then proceeded about two or three miles from the volcano, forming at the extremely immense beds, forty feet or more in height, and making a very slow progress in a barren valley. At seven o'clock in the evening, we were only a quarter of a mile from the mouth of the crater, which was emitting the liquid lava; columns of smoke and stones thrown to a great height in the air, many degrees more vivid than the hottest fire; the whole mass of matter poured into the air by discharges as loud as cannon, with intermittent terrific explosions, shaking the ground under us. We had a most distinct view of the volcano; its mouth is the shape of a cone without the top. We saw several old craters near it. A ten minutes view fully satisfied us, when we hastily returned; for if the wind had suddenly changed, I believe, in that situation, our lives were not worth sixpence. We had a dangerous enemy also under us, which was the snow, covered with many feet of cinders"

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