August 9, 1901 Tsunami: Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia

Reference #236:

magnitude 7.9 earthquake occurred near the Tonga Islands. A wave reported to be about 1.2 m high appeared at Kailua on the western coast of Hawaii at 11:00 A.M. The effects reported are widely incorrectly associated with either or both of the strong tsunamigenic earthquakes of August 9, 1901, at 09:24 and August 10, 1902, at 18:34 UTC off the Sanriku coast of Japan. The travel times to both Kailua and Honolulu fit a source region near the Loyalty Islands. Note: Ref #236 incorrectly states the earthquake was near Tonga Islands, when in fact it was near Loyalty Islands.

Reference #6165:

Messrs. Burns, Philip, and Co's. steamer Titus arrived yesterday from an island trip. The steamer left Sydney on July 3, after being weather-bound two days in Watson's Bay... The steamer remained in the Solomon Group until August 10... After leaving the Solomons, the Titus called at Santa Cruz, where news was received of a severe tidal wave, several natives' lives being reported as lost. From Santa Cruz the steamer returned to Vila, reaching there on the 17th instant...

Reference #6185:

The French steamer Pacifique, which arrived from New Caledonia yesterday, brought news of a volcanic eruption in the New Hebrides Group. The first shocks appear to have occurred in the night of the 8th of last month, and they increased until they became so violent that the white inhabitants fled from their dwellings and the natives hid themselves in the bush. The shocks were very severe on Ambrym, Pentecost and Espritu Santo. So far as could be learnt no loss of life had taken place, but on the coast station dwellings were shaken to pieces. The earthquake was due to an eruption of a volcano near Epi. Describing that outburst, a passenger by the steamer La Parouse said: "Immense vomiting jets of smoke and flame went skyward. The spectacle as viewed from the deck of the La Parouse was impressively grand." The eruption was followed by a tidal wave, which did infinitely greater damage to the plantations than the eruption.

Reference #414:

In addition, a wave appeared at Kailua on the western coast of Hawaii at 11:30 local time...At Keahou, 10 km to the south, a home washed away. No unusual oscillations were noted at other points on the Hawaiian Islands. Note: Ref #414 linked Hawaii runup observations to Aomori Prefecture, Japan earthquake/tsunami on 1901, August 9, 18:23. Ref #387 & #4645 assumed the same source.

Reference #13893:

8 August 1901 (LT) Karua, south-east Epi. A tsunami followed an eruption of a volcano near Epi Island on 8 August 1901, as described by testimonies reported in the Sydney Morning Herald (1901), “The eruption was followed by a tidal wave, which did infinitely greater damage to the plantations than the eruption.” The responsible volcano is likely to have been Karua, located south-east of Epi Island, which is known to have been very active in 1900–1901 (Eissen et al., 1991).

Note: there is uncertainty regarding the source of tsunami runup observations in Hawaii being from same source as observations in Vanuatu and Solomon Islands

Note: Ref #13500 mentions the possibility of a local source tsunami generated by submarine landslides on steep slopes triggered merely by gravity, additional debris, or unfelt earthquakes