The Hawaiian gazette., 1905-02-14
HILO'S TIDAL WAVE
HILo TRIBUNE.

Through the courtesy OF sheriff j. C.
searle. the Tribune IL able 10 repro
duce herewith vivid account OF the
tidal wave. which deluged Hilo on May
10. 1877. and resulted in the loss OF
many lives and property. The account
is in the form OF an official report oil
Sheriff Severance addressed 10 Mar
shal w. c. Parke and is as follows'
Hilo, May IL, 1877.
w. c. Parke, ESQ, Marshal.
Dear sir: We have had n great
disaster at Hllo. On Thursday morn
ing the 10th inst, at about O'CLOCK
a. m, the sea in the bay was seen 10
rise and fall I'm an unusual manner
and at 5 o'clock it swept in, III
mighty wave, washing up and INTO
nearly all the stores in the front OF
the town, carrying off great deal Oh
lumber and all the stone wall makai OF
the wharf The perpendicular height
of the wave (as we have since ascer-
tained by levelling with the lamp-post
on the wharf) was II feet 3 inches
above the ordinary low water mark.
But at waiakea the damage was
frightful; every house within nun
dred yards of the water was swept
,way. The steamboat wharf and the
storehouse. Spencer's storehouse, the
bridge across the stream, and all the
dwelling houses were swept away In
an instant, and now lie mass OF
ruins fer inland. Five lives were lost,
l,nd m
broken. The body of one woman was
found by the boats off Honolii. Inc
boats of the American whaleship Pa
cific. Capt Smithers, lying in the mar
bor, picked up six people who were
swimming for their lives in the Bay
The Pacific was lying in fathoms oil
water. but she grounded when the sea
receded, and then would be whirled
round and round as the sea came in
again. All expected to see her drag
ashore.
The sea continued to rise and fall all
day. timed one of the tides in the
morning about o'clock, and from its
lowest ebb to its full flood was only
about 4 minutes. 1t rose about Ia feet |
perpendicular height in that time. In
the afternoon in the space of one hour,
the sea rose and fell three times with
n height above half tide of ITO 1-2 and
3 feet each time.
Mr.. Roses tin shop was fioated OF
its foundations and is now in the mid
die of the street.
The poor people at Waiakea are In
a sad state; houses destroyed and ut
terly destitute; their goods and furni-
ture scattered far and wide on sea
and land. The water was inches deep
in Conway's store, when the o'clock
wave came in. The wave at Waiakea
must have had perpendicular height
of 16 feet, to have taken the bridge
and wharf where they now lie. The
water swept completely over Cocoanut
Island, and the hospital there has dis
appeared. The oil of the bark Pacific,
stored in Spencer's storehouse. has
been nearly all found scattered about
among the bushes and trees, a long
ways in shore from the place where
the storehouse stood.
There has been nothing like this tidal
wave since the year 1887. nearly 40
years ago. when many grass houses
were destroyed.
/ have made a careful inVestigatlon
of the extent of the disaster, and find
as follows, viz: Thirty-seven dwell
ing houses entirely destroyed; seven
teen badly injured; five people drown
ed and killed; seven badly injured:
one hundred and sixty-three left home
less and destitute. seventeen horses
and mules drowned-this is exclusive
of the government property. Sisson
estimates his loss lin lumber) at sew
eral thousand dollars. The total dam
age has been estimated as high as
$12 900 to $4,000, which is. think, a
low estimate, as several thousand dol
lars worth of stores belonging to the
ship Josephine, and about thirty bar
rels of OIL of the Pacific. are still to
be accounted for
Yours, in haste,
l.. SEVERANCE.