About karakatoa - from an old book

I knew about Karakatoa because of this book – Reader’s digest junior omnibus, that on which my Father has written a note on, his name and the date – 1960 in green ink, or possible blue ink that has turned green…

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The loudest noise on earth
The loudest noise ever heard on earth, was made, not by an atomic or hydrogen bomb, but by a volcano. On 27th August, 1883, more than eighteen centuries after Pompeii had been buried by the ashes from Vesuvius, the entire island of Karakatoa, in the East Indies, blew up with a deafening roar that could be heard for 3000 miles. Stones, dust and ashes were hurled seventeen miles into the air, and the eruption cause a fifty foot tidal wave which swept over neighboring islands and was still more than a foot high when it reached Cape Town, 5100 miles away. Vast clouds of dust spread into the upper atmosphere, filtering the sunlight and producing beautiful sunsets which were visible all over the world. As far off as London, these lingering effects of the great explosions were still being seen the following spring.