VOLCANO IN THE SEA.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 19 October 1927, Page 3

VOLCANO IN THE SEA.

FALCON ISLAND UPHEAVAL. 1 IMPRESSIVE SIGHT WITNESSED. I A stranger phenomenon was witnessed by the crew of H.M.S. Laburnum on September 7 when the sloop cruised for ’ three hours in the vicinity of Falcon Island, near Nukualofa', which has. once more been thrust above the sea by a. b submarine disturbance. Falcon Island is about 45 miles north of Nukualofa, in the Tongan group. Its existence above water is extremely irregular. the island having disappeared and risen again several times since it way first seen by H.M.S7 Falcon in 1835. It is designated on charts as the “site el Falcon Island.” When the Laburnum was at Y’avau on October J a wireless message was received from Nukualofa to the effect that great columns of black smoke could be seen in the direction of the Falcon Island reef, and the sloop set out for the locality to investigate. Shortly after daylight on the morning of October! the vessel was three miles from the island, which was found to have risen above the surface. Great bursts of smoke were soaring to a height of 3000 feet above sea level and the volcano: was playing at intervals of about 20 minutes. The sloop stood three miles off, and investigations were carried out. In was found the island was almost circular. Its length was about a mile, and it was about 300 feet high at the central point. At each fresh outburst, great masses of cinders and ashes were hurled upward with the dense smoke,' and they then fell upon the island in huge cascades. The top of the smoke column disappeared into the clouds. After three hours the warship left the vicinity, but in the daylight it was possible for many hours afterwards to see the smoke: issuing from the crater. When sighted by 11.M.5. Falcon the island was little more than a long reef. 1 Some years later H.N.S. Sappho sighted smoke' issuing from the sea, and the island ultimately rose to about. 150 feet above sea level. However, it was composed of loose volcanic ashes and the action of the sea finally undermined the coastline until it was reduced to little more than a low streak of,black rock in 1894. However, in that year further disturbances occurred and the island rose again, this time to a. height of 50 feet. It was then three miles long and one and a half miles wide. In IS9B the island was again submerged until only a, shoal remained. It had risen bv nine feet two years later, but in 1913 bad once more disappeared. H.M.S. Veronica surveyed the locality in 1921, when it was found that only three feet of water covered the reef. In many parts the waves broke over the submerged island, which was barely covered. An area, of very shallow water then extended for about a mile in aill directions, which corresponds with the present dimensions of the island. The height attained by the island on the present occasion i.s exceptional.