Suddenly, we heard an incredibly loud explosion behind us. The blast was surely the most violent wrenching of the earth in history. Large black clouds climbing to the heavens like a giant tree. The dark smoke was mixed with large bursts or flashes of lightning and there was fire and flame easily visible at the top of the mountain. I have never seen anything so frightening nor so awe-inspiring. This is the end of days. The world is finished.

"The feel of death was suffocating. The combination o' the heat and bad odors made me balk at going further into this pit o' hell, but one of the men shoved me onward. I gagged several times on the smell coming from all sides o' this room. The floor o' the hold was stained with a mixed palate of dark colors, and I shuddered when I considered their source. One sailor shoved me down to the deck of the hold and both men retreated back towards the entrance. One shut the prison-like door that led back up on deck and latched it with one o' the heavy bars, making a loud thump that made me jump...