Description: Mount Veniaminof erupted explosively from Saturday, August 27, 1892 through Monday, August 29, 1892.
From Davidson (1892): "From Captain Erskine, commanding the Alaska Commercial Company's steamer St. Paul, we learn that on Sunday, the 28th of August, 1892, when in latitude 53 degrees 05 minutes, longitude 155 degrees 52 minutes west, on his voyage to the Shumagin Islands, he passed through a black cloud of volcanic ash, so thick that it very nearly obscured the sun from 10 o'clock A.M. to 2 o'clock P.M.; the sea was grey with the fallen ashes, and his decks were covered during his passage of thirty-two miles through it. It had a strong sulphurous odor. * * * At noon the vessel was 223 nautical miles southeastward of the volcano; the wind was moderately light from the northwest, and the sea smooth. He estimated the cloud, as he saw it, to be about one hundred miles long, and from one-half to one mile high. He has furnished us with a bottle of the fine, dark grey dust, as it was gathered from the vessel's deck.
"Lieut. John C. Cantwell, of the U.S. revenue steamer Richard Rush, has given us the following memoranda, which he obtained from Captain Applegate, who has been many years in Alaskan waters, and whose vessel was, at the time of the eruption, anchored in the harbor of Ivanof.
"On Saturday, August 27, 1892, the schooner Everett Hays, engaged in hunting in the vicinity of the Shumagin Islands, entered Ivanof Harbor, on the southwestern extremity of the Alaska Peninsula, and only 25 miles southwestwardly from the volcano. Capt. J.S. Applegate, the owner, was on board, and states: 'About 10 o'clock Saturday night, the weather being calm and clear, a low, rumbling, intermittent sound was heard, and caused the crew to come on deck to ascertain the cause. There was no surf, and the cause was unknown. Between 11 and 12 o'clock, a dark cloud was observed in the sky, towards the northeast, and about 2 o'clock, A.M., this cloud had increased in volume and height until it covered the greater part of the northeast heavens.
"'The low, rumbling noise had become a continuous roar, like the blast from a great furnace, and by 3 o'clock lurid flames could be seen amidst the smoke, which was now rising high in tremendous volumes from a single point, being by compass about northeast. The vast column of smoke reached an estimated height of two miles, and then expanded like a great spreading oak. From the lower edge of this great volume, colored flames waved like banners, and vivid flashes of lightning were apparently discharged into the base of the column. This grand display continued, until daylight caused the flames to be somewhat dimmed, but masses of dense smoke continued to roll upward all Sunday. Toward noon a light northwest wind sprang up, and the clouds began to trend to the southeastward, covering the mainland and the adjacent islands with a thick layer of ashes and volcanic dust.
"'At the anchorage it was dead calm, and there was no perceptible movement of the sea on the beach, as would have occurred if there had been earthquake waves. The continuous lightning discharges were accompanied by deafening peals of thunder, that were plainly heard at the Metrufan village, 50 miles distant, and at Unga Island, 75 nautical miles distant.'
"Captain Applegate could not get the exact location of the volcano, on account of the high range of mountains, which here approach the sea. The Hays left Ivanof Bay on Sunday, and steered south to Pavlof Island, whence the ash cloud was plainly visible to the eastward until late on Monday, when it gradually disappeared in the southeast.
"Captain Bowles, of the fishing schooner Fremont, of San Francisco, reports that on Saturday, August 27th, and for seven days after, he was lying at anchor on Slime Bank, in the Bering Sea, in the vicinity of Port Moller, and 60 miles nearly west from the volcano. He observed at the first date what appeared to be a heavy black cloud in the southeast, which he thought foreboded a southeast storm, and took precautions to put his vessel out of its track. On Sunday morning before daybreak, however, he and his crew saw volumes of ruby red and yellow flames bursting forth with indescribable grandeur from the cloud, and heard plainly the reverberations of thunder. The display lasted with unabated energy until Monday morning, when it appeared to die slowly away."