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MG 1 vol 2124 number 178

Flame Night of the Mount {sic} Blanc Explosion

On the morning of the 6th of December, the day of the above explosion, I was steaming in towards the harbour and about fifteen miles from the scene, I happened at the time to be looking in that direction as if watching for it altho I little expected to see anything unusual, when suddenly I saw an immense column of smoke shoot up to a very good height with two red and angry looking flames of fire projecting some distance above its summit. The flames were visible but less than a second later a flash of distant lightning and could be seen in several places through the column of smoke.
There was no shock felt anywhere on board of the ship not even a slight jar, But some minutes afterwards two loud reports in quick succession.
The extreme altitude of the flame was about 7° 30' which at that distance (15 miles) would give the height of the flames to be about 12,000 feet, or nearly that.
This altitude is approximate but very near to a comet [illegible] as the spot in the smoke where the flames disappearance was easy to locate.

W. M. Campbell
S S "Acadien"

Pencilled in diagram of angle from S S Acadien up the harbour facing the explosion