HA 17 - Sketch of the eruption of Vesuvius, May 1855.

In May 1855 Harrietta Oates wrote a letter to Charles Chowne, 36 Dorset Square, London, from Naples containing a pen sketch with white highlights of the eruption drawn from the villa where she was staying opposite the mountain. She wrote” I mean only to give you an idea of the lava’s track..it did not break out from the summit as usual but the side of the mountain cracked just at the foot of the cone in ten or twelve different apertures and the lava came quietly and cruelly down.. like a destroying angel… the track of the lava is marked by the white smoke, what you see white in my sketch by day is burning fire by night - it was a windy day 12th May when I made the sketch - the mass of smoke was carried off to the left viewed from Naples…I never witnessed such an eruption of Vesuvius that seized on the minds of the people like this - business is at an end - the attempts on the life of Napoleon -the Siege of Sebastopol - all are forgotten..”. She continued that her letter “ought to reach you free but there is so much urgency going on here in the Post Office that several letters which I have posted have paid again in England - I and a friend of mine are trying to put a stop to these petty robberies”. On the 27th she added a postscript that “the mountain is quiet today. I think the eruption is over - for the first time since 1st May we see the outline of Vesuvius clearly”. The letter indicates that the recipient did not have to pay any postage on arrival in London.