Reports of a Submarine Eruption off New Zealand in 1877
NZ Journal of Geology and Geophysics 1958 Vol 1 p459-460


Submarine eruptions were reported on 1 December 1877 near East
Cape. They were probably not of volcanic origin, and may have
been a tsunami.


Anon. 1878 (based on an item in Globus 34 (1): 16, 1878)
Capt. HELANDER of the steamer "Go-Ahead", on the way from
Gisborne to Auckland, observed on 1 December 1877 between 8 and
9 hours, about 5 sea miles from Open Bay, a submarine volcanic
outbreak. The sea formed up enormously and rocked the ship
with a strong swell. At the same time earthquakes were felt at
Gisborne.

Canterbury Times Saturday 8 December 1877
After the arrival of the "Pretty Jane" today from Gisborne,
it became known that she had been subject to a strange experience
on Saturday evening, between eight and nine o'clock. She was then
steaming for Auckland, and was about five miles seaward from
East Cape, when the mate observed, some distance ahead,
approaching the steamer's bows, in a slanting direction, a strip
of seething and excessively agitated water. Looking outwards,
he saw a long streak of similarly agitated water. The belt of
disturbed water was less than a quarter of a mile broad, and
approached the steamer faster than she was steaming. There were
no heavy waves, but the water appeared as if boiling in a
cauldron. The steamer's course was altered to avoid the agitated
stream approaching, and just escaped it, but the vessel was then
tossed and pitched about in a most wonderful manner, and the
passengers aboard believed she was foundering. After a time the
tossing ceased, and the steamer got into smooth water. The
cause of the commotion is unknown but it was probably some
subterranean volcanic action. On Friday evening, or early on
Saturday morning, a slight earthquake was felt at Gisborne, and
whether the phenomenon observed by those aboard the "Pretty Jane"
arose from the cause that produced that earthquake or not, no
one on board is able to say.