THE RECENT TIDAL DISTURBANCES.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 2, Issue 91, 28 September 1868, Page 234

THE RECENT TIDAL DISTURBANCES.

(From the Otago Witness, sth Sept.) The most noticeable item in the recent news from Australia is that which records the appearance of the tidal wave on the coasts of New. South .Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania. We now know that this disturbance of the ocean, the result of some volcanic; action, extended siniultaheously over a large portion of these 'seas. On the morning of while the tidal wave alarmed the inhabitants of New Zealand and Chatham Islands, it equally alarmed the residents of Sydney and "Newcastle, .Adelaide and ; Hobart; Town; Itis singular enough that the port of Melbourne wass not visited'; by these most extraordinary phenomena. On no part of the Victorian coast .-did: they-make their appearance.- >,Nor were . they observed.at anypoint north of Newcastle. Probably, however, we may hear some further., details on the subject as vessels

Arrive from time to time ; for/no doubt the tremendous uprising of ltbe waters was observed at sea, as well as on the coast. The accounts received r from the Chatham Islands on Friday last forcibly remind us of the very similar occurrences at the island of- St. Thomas, in the West Indies some months since; When we come to hear the narrative from the residents on/the Chatharas—when they describe ; the appearance of the great breakers: suddenly rising up before them and pouring in upon their settlements, spreading destruction on all sides—we .shall recognise the counterpart of the scene witnessed at St. Thomas. The next volcanic disturbance we heard of. was at Hawaii. This was on the 28th of March. The tidal wave was assisted in the work of destruction by the eruptions of the volcano; and both together created such havoc that the face of the country was altered beyond recognition. Whole villages were swept-' away by a wave which at ones, place, rose to a height of forty feet while vast chasms suddenly appeared in the midst of cultivated fields.' At various points in the Pacific Ocean, volcanic action appears to have taken place at short intervals during the present year; not only in places where volcanic action might have been expected, but in places least familiar with such unwelcome visitations. At San Francisco and Sacramento, for instance, we have lately heard that smart shocks of earthquake were felt on the 26th May and the 29th of June; and the same papers which brought us this intelligence also informed us of an earthquake felt at sea on the 18th of May. The brig Brewster, when in latitude 44° 7' N., and longitude 129° 35' W., experienced a shock which “so shook the vessel as to throw the men off their feet and the watch below out of their berths. The doors of the galley were thrown from their sides, and the crockery in the. pantry was broken.” A noise like distant thunder preceded the shock. The impression made upon the crew was that the vessel had struck upon a rock, and all hands rushed to the pumps to ascertain the fact. Again, ou the 18th of June last, shocks of earthquake were felt at various points in the city of Sydney, and more distinctly in the Hunter River district. Earthquakes have never been felt in Sydney before ; not, at least, within the memory of the present generation.

This is a subject which will no doubt occupy the attention of scientific, men here and elsewhere. The various occurrences to which we have, alluded have, in all probability, some links of connection, and irresistibly suggest the idea of continuous volcanic action extending throughout the Pacific Sea.