English: Plate XV. View in the Island of Cracatoa

In February 1780 the crews of HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery, on the way home after Cook's death in Hawai’i, stopped for a few days on Krakatoa where they found two springs, one fresh water and the other hot. Indeed, Krakatoa, or Krakatau, is a volcanic island situated in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung. The name is also used for the surrounding island group comprising the remnants of a much larger island of three volcanic peaks which was obliterated in a cataclysmic series of massive explosions over August 26–27, 1883. This was among the most violent volcanic events in recorded history, unleashing huge tsunamis (killing more than 36,000 people) and destroying over two-thirds of the island. The most recent eruption prior to Webber’s visit, however, had been in 1680, such that upon their arrival crew members found a friendly place whose vegetation was dense and lush.