White Island

White Island is one of the most fascinating and accessible volcanoes on earth, carrying with it an A grade level of scientific importance. As New Zealand’s only live marine volcano, scientists and volcanologists worldwide are attracted by its unique features.

The volcano is estimated to be between 100,000 and 200,000 years old. However, the small portion of the island that is visible above sea level has been in its present form for an estimated 16,000 years - evidence of a continually changing landscape.

Walking on White Island is like walking on the moon. Virtually no vegetation survives the harsh acidic environment inside the crater walls. Instead, lush beds of yellow and white sulphur crystals grow amongst hissing, steaming, bubbling fumaroles.

Giant mounds, remnants of the 1914 Great Landslide, dwarf visitors as they wind their way up to the Main Crater. Venturing to the edge, they are greeted by an amazing sight - an immense crater, with towering walls shielding its spectacular lake and punctuated by steamy vents from which the power of the inner earth constantly belches forth.

Neighbouring Donald Duck and Noisy Nellie Craters each have their own stories to tell and a view from on high. Down below, bright yellow chimneys of delicate sulphur crystals enhance the alien landscape and lure the visitor for a closer look.

In contrast to these natural features, stand the ruins of an old factory, the only human testament to the numerous failed sulphur mining attempts of days gone by, and now slowly being reclaimed by Mother Nature.

Scientific equipment is discreetly positioned around the volcano. Its activity is constantly being monitored by IGNS (Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences). A seismograph, survey pegs, magnetometers and a camera all provide information on just what the volcano is up to. Up-to-date images of the island can be viewed hourly at www.geonet.org.nz

White Island currently sits on an alert level rating of 1, meaning she is always active, constantly steaming. Misty, roaring, ashing, rumbling - who knows what mood she’ll be in if you are fortunate enough to visit .....

White Island Tour

History

The first European to see White Island was Lieutenant (later Captain) Cook. In his log on 1st October 1769 is the phrase: “This island is called by the natives Koakhali”. This information was obtained by the officers of the Endeavour from the local Maoris.

Cook’s interpreter was Tupaia, a native of Tahiti, who had joined the ship there. With three languages being used - Maori, Tahitian and English - and only partly understood by those present, it must have been a confusing situation, and the Maori name Te Puia o Whakaari was rendered as Koakhali.

Cook simplified matters, at least for those who spoke English by writing in his log: “We called it White Island for as such it always appear’d to us”. Although Cook came within 8 leagues of the island he failed to notice that it was a volcano.

In December 1826 the Rev. Henry Williams visited the island in the schooner Herald. He noted: “As the whole Island was composed of sulphur, being blackened with the smoke gave it a ghastly appearance”. Also on board the Herald was Allen Cunningham, a botanist who was a collector of specimens for Kew Gardens. He gave a lengthy description of the island but paid little attention to botany, for all he mentioned was scrubby vegetation which he thought was manuka; but manuka does not grow on the island.

A year later the French explorer, Dumond D’Urville in the corvette Astrolabe was following Cook’s track. He sighted the island late in the day but it was obscured from time to time by smoke which he assumed to be from the cooking fires of the natives. If that was the case it must have been an enormous hangi! Gilbert Mair, captain of the Herald, later wrote that he did not think people could stay on the island more than a few hours as the smell of sulphur was too strong.

These early explorers and visitors were naturally fascinated by the volcano, but as their visits seldom lasted more than a few hours their observations were often made in haste and often inaccurate. By the 1870s more accurate information had accumulated and this enabled Judge Wilson to consider the possibility of mining the sulphur which was believed to be present there in great quantities.

Some Early Visitors

As soon as steamships began calling regularly on Bay of Plenty ports in the late 1860s it became possible for people to visit the island. Until the early 1920s these ships made weekly calls and often had a spare day in port. Several times per year a trip to the island was offered at a reasonable price and these trips were very popular. These ships left Opotiki, Whakatane or Tauranga in the morning, steamed over to the island and as there was no wharf there they anchored offshore and took the passengers ashore in the ships boats.

The passengers spent a few hours on the island, took a walk into the crater area to see the wonders of nature at work and later in the day returned home, and for many this was one of the highlights of the year. For the ship’s owners it meant a bit more profit than staying in port and the crews enjoyed these outings as much as the passengers.

If landing on the island could be hazardous at times so was returning to the mainland. In 1884 on a return trip from the island the small steamer Staffa with 60 passengers on board ran aground on the Opotiki bar. James White took one lot of passengers off in a boat but when returning for the second load his boat capsized and James and his four oarsmen were carried out to sea. By this time it was dark but James and his four companions hung on to the boat and four hours later they were washed ashore in a very exhausted condition. The other passengers were taken of the Staffa later that night after Captain Austin had fired three rockets which bought more boats from Opotiki.

The suspicion arises that the Staffa was overloaded. In 1907 the steamer Waiotahi took 240 passengers and again this seems a lot for a small ship.