EXTRAORDINARY TIDAL WAVE.

P" T.YTTHLTON. ' The lown of Lyflelfon mv\ this morning thrown Info a slate of the greatest oxoltemenf owing to a most extraordinary convulsion of nature. At present If Is ImpoHslble to nay what It Is, whether a submarine eruption or n tidal wave, but the damage done lo tho vessels Is considerable, Wo leant tho following particulars from Mr Webb, nightwttLelimiiu on the railway, He slates Ihat at four this morning, on going bis rounds, ho ; noticed that the barque ,I'ohn Knox was lying ' on her starboard broadside, and her yards were nearly touching the i-iorow-pllo jelly, alongside which she was discharging her cargo, He Inmiedlal ely gave an alarm, aud aroused Captain .Jenkins, who came on deck i lio thought the coals In the vessel had shifted, hut on looking over lho side he saw that tho harbour, from the wharf to Oflicers' Point, wok quite dry, and that all the boats and vessels wero high and dryj he called Webb's attention to this, and It was a fact that the harbour was empty. In a fow minutes (heir aUonllon was directed to a noise resembling thunder, coming from off Oflicers' I'olnl, On lookln •, they saw an immense wnvo coming along the harbour with fearful velocity, and lv a fow niliiiil.es it was surging round tho vossols, tearing them from the different wharves and breaking the warps like twine. It caught the barque John Knox, and drove her against tho screwrpllo Jetty, carrying away her starboard quarter, and snapping her mooring chain and hawKers which held her to tho wharf. The ketch Margaret, lying on tho beach, hnd hor warps carried away. Tho wave caught her on tho rebound, nnd sho was. carried Into the harbour, fouling tho Annie Hrown, schooner, and carrying away her bulwarks, stanchions, and mast, and doing ' damage to the schooner-, she Is ln a nad stale, The schooner ,Tcanlo Duncan lying at the Hallway wharf rccolvcd serious dnmiigoj tho Novelty, steamer, lying alongside of her car- . rled awny by collision her buUvarks and ntanchfons from foro to. main rigging, and her boat is broken in half, /

For flomo bourn tho lido kept rlHlng nnd falling, sometimes three fcot ln flvo minutes, At half-past nino another mnnll roller came lv, and again caught the John Knox, which was at that lime on the miidj In a few minutes tho warps, parted, and the vessel nwiing round fortunately clear of tho wharf. ,\ I cloven o'clock, the atcamor Taranaki camo up harbour, As hlio fitopped afc tho head a for some lime It was feared thero might ho Homnlhlng wrong. It (unitd out however, alio Hopped to pick up pari; of a wreck of, hoiiio vessel, The portion Hccurcd was a hatch covering, evidently belonging to a large vowel •, alio al«o passed a full-rigged maul outside the heads, Captain Francis Informs nn (hero wore no signs of any eruption during the pasMiigo, Wo learn Unit lho ketch Georgian has boon wrecked ln Rhodes' Hay. The following Is Captain .Jenkins' report-, —*At ,'i.:i() I hoard a noise. The ship went down on her beam ends. I with dlllloulty got on dook and found tho ship lying with her yard-arm on. (he wharf, I could not conceive what was lhe mailer, whon I heard a nolr.e like tho rushing of a great body of wafer, or a strong wind. I looked out Into lhe harboui'i It was all dry as far an the breakwater, nnd a wave rolling In about 8 feel blghj it came, up against the ship with great force. A few minutes afterwards, II rebounded and caught lho ship's bow, carrying away two piirls of nn 8 Inch wa.'p and lho bent bower cable, which was ahncklcd on to the wharf, dragging tho anchor home with do fal boms cable, In lft or 20 minutes after tbo wave eaine In, the wafer had been within threo foot of the top of the wharf, In less than half an hour lho ship was dry ngain, It rushed In and out at Intervals util!l 10 <mii„ when another rush ran out. and broke Ihree parts ofl lho stono warp, the shin awlnglng round again, Capl Gibson stint his boat and crow and tho On. vei'iiiiient warj), making Jt fast to the buoy and passing both ends on hoard ship j hy so doing the ship was kept head and stern to lho current as fl, ran fn and mil,. Damage done —Hfnrbnurd quarter knocked In. Hho wa,i bounded up against tho wharf by tho tidal wave,