midnight
Beth could n't drink her tea , for tiny black atoms fell through the air and floated upon the surface of the liquid . Louise retired to her stateroom with a headache , and found her white serge gown peppered with particles of lava dust which had fallen from the skies . The pilot guided the ship cautiously past Capri and into the bay . The air was now black with volcanic dross and a gloom as of midnight surrounded them on every side . The shore , the mountain and the water of the bay itself were alike invisible . It was Saturday night , the seventh day of April , nineteen hundred and six -- a night never to be forgotten by those aboard the ship ; a night which has its place in history . At dinner the captain announced that he had dropped anchor at the Immacollatella Nuova , but at a safe distance from the shore , and that no passengers would be landed under any circumstances until the fall of ashes ceased and he could put his people ashore in a proper manner .