The 1855 Earthquake

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 274, 15 August 1936, Page 21

The 1855 Earthquake

One of the most vivid reports of the severe earthquake which took place around Cook Strait on January 23, 1855, is that given by Commander Drury, of HAL sloop Pandora, to the Nelson ‘’Examiner,” shortly after the upheaval. The commander, who was in Wellington at the time, stated: ’We felt suddenly an uncommon and disagreeable grinding, as if the ship were grating over a rough bottom. It continued with severity for more than a minute; the ship slewed broadside to the wind; we were then in six fathoms, so that there was little doubt that it was an earthquake.” Further on, he describes the state of the town when he and Lieutenant Jones landed to investigate how the Government Offices were destroyed: “Baron . Alsdorf s Hotel, a substantial two-storied house, Had buried its owner iu the partial ruin- Government House was not occupied at the time. Had it been it must have destroyed its inmates, foi in every room was a pile of brickwork, the chandeliers and fittings utterly destroyed. The principal shock occurred'at 9.11 p.m., and it was by far the most severe. During the night scarcely half an hour elapsed without a lesser shock, accompanied by deep, hollow sounds; but all of these substquent ones were of much shorter duration. For eight hours, subsequent to the first great shock, the tide approached and receded from the shore every twenty minutes, rjsing from eight to ten feet and receding four feet lower than at spring tides. One ship, I heard, was aground at her anchorage tour j times. The ordinary tide seemed quite at a discount; for the following day (24th) it scarcely rose at all. On the 94th the shocks continued, but at greater intervals, but Hie tremendous motion was continuous.” Commander Drury was engaged for some time in making a general report of the circumstances connected with the earthquake, and all of his observations were embodied in a report dated February 20, 1855 In a report of the same earthquake,! written by E. Roberts of the Royal Engineers, there are several interesting items worth noting. He writes: “Its effects were most violent in the immediate vicinity of Wellington. where a tract of land of four thousand six hundred square miles in extent was elevated to a height, varying from one to nine feet. The harbour of Port Nicholson, together with the valley of the Hutt, is elevated from four to five feet, the greatest, elevation being on the eastern side of the harbour and the lesser on the western. The Rimutaka Range was very much shaken in its elevation, and a great many slips occurred, laying bare the western side as well as the eastern.” H. Maynard (Wellington).