FLOATING SEA OF PUMICE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2628, 25 November 1915, Page 6

FLOATING SEA OF PUMICE

UNUSUAL TRIP BY S.S,,KARAHU.

What may lave been the evidence of a considerable submarine disturbance near the South Sea Islands was passed through by the Union Steam Ship Co.'s Karamu, which' arrived here late last night from Suva. Speaking to a reSorter after the _ arrival of the vessel, aptain Ryan' said that when two days out from Suva the sea. for about a tenmile_ run, was covereeT with floating pumice. It was mostly in patches, of about an acre in extent, but in places the sea appeared" to lie covered with ashes.- . "'

The Karamu jleft Suva on November 16, and the strange deposit was run into in latitude 23 south. The nearest land was the Kandava Island, just below Suva, about 240 miles away to the north, while the Tongan Group . was fully 300 miles away ; South-east trade winds prevailed there, and the deposit couT3 hardly have floated from the islands. On Friday, November _ 19, a "southerly buster" was experienced, and it-lasted for four days. The weather was thick, and the.rain heavy, and on occasions the vessel could only make about a knot an hour. No damage was done, and on Tuesday last, as the coal was getting low, the captain decided to run Ifitb Gisborne to replenish 'the hunkers. The run down the coast was uneventful. . ' .-

THe Karamu's cargo consists of 12,000 cases of bananas and pineapples, which will bo transhipped here. The boat is to sail to-day for Westport.