Capt. Johan Lindeman piloted the ship Governor General Loudon through the Sunda Strait as Krakatoa erupted in 1883. The ship, operated by the Netherlands Indies Steamship Company as a mail steamer and excursion vessel, was based at Batavia.

This account from the captain begins after the ship docked at Anjer at 2 p.m. on Aug. 26, headed for Telok Betong. A few quotes in the summary of events have been taken from accounts written by a member of the ship’s crew and a passenger.

Summary of Events

Sunday, Aug. 26

• The Loudon takes passengers on board at Anjer. The ship leaves at 2:45 p.m. At the same time, Krakatoa is "casting forth enormous columns of smoke."
• At 6 p.m., the ship endures heavy falls of ash and pumice, and the wind starts to pick up.
• At 7 p.m., the ship struggles up the coast past Krakatoa, making its way toward Telok Betong. The Loudon approaches the bay and anchors up.
• Later that night, lightning strikes the main mast conductor six or seven times, and "the mud rain, which covered the masts, rigging and decks, was phosphorescent and on the rigging presented the appearance of St. Elmo's fire."
• The native crew tries to put out the flames with their bare hands, pleading with the Europeans, convinced it was the work of evil spirits, and a harbinger of the ship being wrecked.
• Lindeman orders fire hoses set up and ready on deck, "since there was every chance that the ship might catch fire. It is most amazing that this did not happen."
• At midnight, Lindeman sends several signals to shore requesting a sloop to land the passengers bound for Telok Betong. When no sloop comes, Lindeman sends the first mate in a small boat to find out what's happening.
• The first mate returns an hour later saying it's impossible to land because of the heavy current and surf, and that the pier head is standing partly underwater. A boat that had tried to put off from shore has already been wrecked — the sloop the Loudon was expecting.
• The captain hears other ships' bells ringing and is concerned about a collision, so he sails blind to get away from the bells.

Monday, Aug. 27

• 7 a.m. — Tsunami: "Suddenly, a tremendous wave came moving in from the sea, which literally blocked the view and moved with tremendous speed. The Loudon steamed forward in such a way that she headed straight into the wave."
• Lindeman watches as a crowd of Europeans gathered on the pier at Telok Betong is swept away. The signal beacon is gone, and the ship Berouw lies "high upon the shore among the cocoa-nut trees."
• At 10:30 a.m., Lindeman anchors in the bay because the ash rain is getting thicker and thicker. Pumice stone is also coming down. Eventually total darkness envelops the ship.
• Suddenly, the ship is beset by hurricane-force winds. Lindeman lets down both anchors and "kept the screw turning slowly at half speed in order to ride over the terribly high seas."
• The main awnings and boat covers are blown away in the winds. Objects come loose and are tossed violently across the ship and overboard, narrowly missing passengers.
• The crew suffers because of conditions on deck — "a dense rain of mud fell, which was especially bothersome to the crew whose eyes, ears and noses were liberally filled with a material which made breathing difficult. Breathing, however, was not only made difficult by the mud, ash and pumice, but the atmosphere itself had also changed. The devilish smell of sulphurous acid spread. Some felt buzzing in the ears, others felt a pressing on the chest and sleepiness. It would have been quite natural if we had all choked to death."
• Lindeman rallies, organizing sick people to be tended to, and replacement crew to help on deck.
• Pumice and ash turn to heavy ashfall, so that in the space of 10 minutes the mud lies half a foot deep. Several passengers work to clear the mud and pumice on deck (now to a depth of 2 feet), which would otherwise have sunk the ship. The people "worked with the energy of despair, in spite of the twofold danger of being burnt and stunned by the hot falling stones. While we were engaged in this struggle, and engulfed in the sheer blackness of a veritable hell, a new and terrible danger came upon us."
• Another tsunami — the biggest one — hits the ship. "The wave made the ship tumble like a seesaw. Sometimes she was almost straight on end, at other times she almost went over on her beam-ends. All the passengers and crew gave themselves up for lost. The captain handled himself splendidly throughout. Well, you can fancy what it was like when I tell you that the captain was lashed with three ropes along the engine room companionway [at the wheel], while I was lashed down below to work the engines." All other crew were dashed from one side of the engine room to the other.
• At noon, the wind dies entirely. "After each sea tremor, an amazing stillness and calmness of the sea existed, and the muddy rain stopped temporarily. This calm was even more disquietening than the hurricane."
• Lindeman stops the engines and darkness remains — so does the mud rain.
• At 2 p.m., the mud rain changes to light ash rain, and the Loudon begins making its way toward Anjer.

Tuesday, Aug. 28

• There is complete darkness until 4 a.m.
• At 6:30 a.m., the Loudon gets under steam. As she starts to move, she falls in with "much ash and driftwood." Fighting their way through sea that looks "exceedingly like solid ground," the crew dips a bucket into the sea to get a sense of the depth of the debris. Despite letting the bucket down to its maximum depth of 20 feet, it still comes up full of pumice.