TIDAL WAVES IN PACIFIC

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28224, 12 March 1957, Page 17

TIDAL WAVES IN PACIFIC

Trawler Damaged At Rarotonga (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) RAROTONGA, March 10. The tidal wave following the earthquake in the Aleutian Islands reached Rarotonga about 5 p.m. on Saturday- afternoon. Some damage was, done at Avarua harbour, where the Brixham trawler Inspire and the Union Company’s two latunches and a cargo lighter were moored alongsidelthe wharf. The Inspire broke loose with the- first surge of the sea, and for nearly an hour was tossed backwards and forwards with no-one on board. After several attempts, the vessel was brought under control long enough to get the engines started, and she put out to sea as the harbour filled with water. The bulwarks and rigging were badly damaged as a result of a broadside collision with the end of the wharf, and underwater damage is probable as the result of the vessel being turned round on a rocky bottom at another time. The launches and lighter were able to be secured and were not damaged, but a corner pile of the wharf went, and bollards were carried away with the strain. At its peaks, which came at intervals of 2min 45sec, the sea was about five feet above normal, with a 10 to 12ft drop as it drained out of the harbour again. The sea was still moving in and out of the harbour quite noticeably this morning.

One beneficial result of the! tidal wave was the way it scoured out the harbour and removed the accumulated silt and shingle which has considerably hampered local shipping in recent years. The waves also caused destruction and damage to 145 homes and 18 boats in Japan, and a delayed action of the crest hit San Diego, California, damaging five boats and crushing some wooden docks. Today the Hawaiian islands started a big clean-up job as a result of the waves. Honolulu beach areas looked like an unmade bed at dawn today, and civil defence authorities asked bathers and surfboard riders to keep away from the beaches until mid-afternoon.

TIDAL EFFECTS AT WELLINGTON GAUGES SHOW RISE OF FOOT (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, March 11. Ripping through the Pacific Ocean at terrific speed, a series of seismic waves set up by the earthquake in the outer Aleutian Islands reached Wellington Harbour last night, and this morning. Harbour Board tide gauges showed a rise of one foot, lasting for half an hour, as the peak of the waves passed through Cook Strait between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. today. The Wellington Harbour Board’s tide gauge was showing wide fluctuations from an original peak rise of Ift at 1 a.m. today. The effects of the recurring waves were still being recorded today. The first fluctuations were shown on the gauge at 10 p.m. yesterday, just over 20 hours after the earthquake occurred 6400 miles away. Shock waves travelling through the earth hit Wellington 13 minutes after the earthquake struck the Aleutians. “We got a pretty spectacular record of the large shock,” said the superintendent of the Seismological Observatory (Mr R. C. Hayes) . today.

Table Tennis.— The following officers were elected at the an--1 ual meeting of the Redcliffs Table Tennis Club: patron, Sir Ernest Andrews; president, Mr G. Shearman; secretary, Miss E. Hyde; committee, Messrs R. Bebb, G. Woods, D. McKay, W. Thompson and K. Dickie. It was decided to open the season on March 27.

Hotel Transfers.— The Christchurch Licensing Committee yesterday approved the transfer of the licence of the Embassy Hotel from Emma Sarah Constant to Herbert George Harris, and the licence of the New Albion Hotel from John Green to Leonard Richard McMeekan.