n unusual thing at this season
of the year, and a storm was apparently brewing in a direction from
which storms do not come at this season.

GREAT FLASHES OF LIGHT

"As the night wore on those on watch noticed what appeared to be great
flashes of lightning in the direction of Martinique. It seemed as though
the ordinary conditions were reversed, and even the fo'cas'le prophets
were unable to offer explanations.

"Occasionally, over the pounding of the engines and the rush of water,
we thought we could hear long, deep roars, not unlike the ending of a
deep peal of thunder. Several times we heard the rumble or roar, but at
the time we were not certain as to exactly what it was, or even whether
we really heard it.

"There would suddenly come great flashes of light from the dark bank
toward Martinique. Some of them seemed to spread over a great area,
while others appeared to spout skyward, funnel shaped. All night this
continued, and it was not until day came that the flashes disappeared.
The dark bank that covered the horizon toward Martinique, however, did
not fade away with the breaking of day, and at eight in the morning of
the 9th (Friday) the whole section of the sky in that direction seemed
dark and troubled.

"About nine o'clock Friday morning I was sitting on one of the
hatches aft with some of the other engineers and officers of the ship,
discussing the peculiar weather phenomena. I noticed a sort of grit that
got into my mouth from the end of the cigar I was smoking.

"I attributed it to some rather bad coal which we had shipped aboard,
and, turning to Chief Engineer Evans, I remarked that 'that coal was
mighty dirty,' and he said that it was covering the ship with a sort of
grit. Then I noticed that grit was getting on my clothes, and finally
some one suggested that we go forward of the funnels, so we would not
get dirt on us. As we went forward we met one or two of the sailors from
the forecastle, who wanted to know about the dust that was falling on
the ship. Then we found that the grayish-looking ash was sifting all
over the ship, both forward and aft.

ASHES RAINED ON THE SHIP

"Every moment the ashes rained down all over the ship, and at the same
time grew thicker. A few moments later, the lookout called down that we
were running into a fog-bank dead ahead. Fog banks in that section are
unheard of at nine o'clock in the morning at this season, and we were
more than a hundred miles from lan