Before August 28th, 1883, few people had ever heard of Krakatoa. It was a tiny, nondescript volcanic island in the middle of the Sunda Straits, between Java and Sumatra, in what were then the Dutch East Indies. But on this day 115 years ago there occurred an event which literally shook the world: the island erupted and almost disappeared.
It had been obvious for some months that the volcano was angry. But the outburst, when it came, proved to be one of the biggest that the world has known. The massive explosion was heard over 3,000 miles away, and an estimated four cubic miles of debris was hurled into the atmosphere in a few frenzied hours. There were thousands of casualties, both from the explosion itself and the tidal waves that followed throughout the Indian Ocean. Afterwards, only a third of the island of Krakatoa remained above water, and scores of new islands of steaming pumice and ash lay where previously the sea had been a hundred feet in depth.
From a scientific viewpoint, however, the eruption of Krakatoa is remembered as an event of great significance. Indeed, a leading meteorologist of the day called it "a turning point in history of the science of meteorology". Close monitoring by scientists of the aftermath of the eruption contributed greatly to contemporary understanding of the circulation patterns in the high atmosphere; a great deal was learned about the optical effects of fine particles in the air, and about the propagation of explosive atmospheric waves; oceanographers gained a better understanding of giant sea waves - now known by the Japanese word tsunamis; and biologists were able to study the gradual return of plant and animal life to islands which had been buried under tons of ash. In fact, the eruption of Krakatoa 115 years ago is remembered as one of the great scientific events of the 19th century.
And the occurrence had another even more unusual result. A year later, in 1884, songwriter Percy French was an inspector of drains in Co Cavan, and his daughter, Ettie, tells us of the effect that Krakatoa had on him:
"My father was 30 when he was first attracted to landscape painting. He was enjoying a life full of congenial activities and deeply in love with the girl he was going to marry, when a series of wonderful sunsets over Lough Sheelin completely bowled him over. He went out every evening and tried to capture in paint the colours, which were due to volcanic dust."
And thus it was that Krakatoa started Percy French on his subsidiary career as a celebrated watercolour painter.