October 6, 1883 Alaska Peninsula Tsunami - Augustine I. Narrative

Passage from Lander (1996):

"Before the eruption on Augustine Island, seven or eight Aleuts had landed to hunt otter during the winter. Two women who had come with them refused to stay on the island, being frightened by the loud rumble coming from the volcano. They were taken to Saint Paul, Kodiak. After the eruption, no trace could be found of the hunters who had remained on the volcano, although a rescue party had gone along the coast to learn of their whereabouts.

...A recently discovered notebook from 1898 by J.A. Spurr, U.S. Geological Survey, says:

Trader says here at Katmai that eighteen years ago three families from Kodiak went with families and baidarkas (boats) to Saint Augustine Island to spend the winter.... The mountain began to shake so violently that they put all their effects in their baidarkas and started on a stormy day. Scarcely were they at the mouth of the bay when an explosion occurred. Ashes, boulders and pumice began pouring down and the baraboras (shelters) were buried and the bay filled up with debris. At the same time there were many tidal waves so that the natives nearly perished with fright, yet finally escaped."

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