There are more ways than ever to listen to History Daily ad-free.

Listen with Wondry Plus in the Wondry app.

As a member of NoisorPlus at noisor.com or in Apple Podcasts,

or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at IntoHistory.com.

Thank you. It's just after 1 p.m. on August 26, 1883, in Java, an island in Southeast Asia.

38-year-old Dutch geologist Rozier Furbay peers peers through a microscope carefully scraping at a fragment

of obsidian. The glassy rock glints under the lens, rigid, dark, and so precisely structured

it seems almost artificial. It's hard to believe something so orderly was formed in such a chaotic

environment as an erupting volcano. Rajir gets up and walks to the window.

From his high vantage point on Java, he can see the small island where he collected the

sample, Crackatoa.

25 miles offshore, Crackatoa is a volcanic island, and for the past three months, its peak

has spewed out ash and smoke into the sky.

Rajaire is convinced it's just the beginning of a huge eruption.

And his instincts are right, as he turns back to his desk,

an ear-piercing explosion rocks the building.

Window shake, the floor trembles, and Rajir instinctively shields his face.

When he pulls his fingers away from his eyes,

the sky is noticeably darker,

and a massive plume of smoke is billowing from Krakatoa. It stretches across the sky like a growing

stain, blotting out the sun. Rajir knows instantly what's happened. The volcano has blown its top,

and now the real eruption has begun.

...