Jack Faulkner's Eyewitness Account - Chapter 2

It was a wonderful, yet terrifying, sight. Beyond words to describe with the roiling clouds of steam, varying shades of grey/black pumice and red hot rocks etc. interlaced with tremendous flashes of lightning and crashing thunder.


     The continuous noise almost numbed the senses but luckily there was no rain. That did not come till later. There was a continuous fall of pumice dust all over and around us, even though the wind was blowing away from us.

     It was only occasionally that big rocks came down but as we could not look up it was probably just as well or we may have been, if that were possible, more scared.

    As we were out of the immediate danger area we decided it was worth a chance to try and salvage our gear, especially as the wind was now clearing the dust away from us.

    We got within about one and a half miles before the car couldn’t go any further in the depth of soft pumice dust and fallen trees, so we walked about another half mile when I managed to dig up my camera. As the wind eased up, the smoke, fumes and dust rolled back on us so we turned round and struggled back to the car, coughing and spluttering, more dead than alive.

    It was getting on for dark so we went straight on to Kokopo and I managed to get a bed in the bungalow of a doctor in the native hospital on the outskirts of Kokopo. I enquired if anyone had any spare radio parts or sets.

    I was put on to a former amateur (VK9RC) who after knowing the position offered his co-operation.    We built a pretty rough sort of transmitter between us and I tried from about 9.00pm until midnight broadcasting what details I knew and asking any possible listeners to get in touch with Australian authorities.

    As far as I know, no-one heard these transmissions. I left all my films in Fred Hay’s car but someone pinched them overnight.

    Heavy quakes continued all night and the continual crashes of thunder and flashes of lightning made sleep difficult. I suppose we were all as frightened as the wife of the Doctor, in whose house I spent the night.

    I was up before dawn on the radio again. I gave up at 11.00am in disgust as the constant lightning blocked the receiver and we were running on car batteries charged from a generator driven off the back wheel of a car and petrol was getting very low.

    There were earthquakes every minute or two and this was most unsettling.

On Sunday, we were just sitting down to lunch when a man in a car rushed in saying to clear out as the crater on the other side of the harbour opposite the native hospital, had gone up (Matupi).

    The chap where I was staying was an assistant Doctor and his boss said to get everything we could from the native hospital back along the road a bit and move it toward the harbour entrance.  We commandeered a truck and loaded everything we could lay our hands on and drove to the Catholic Mission, where it had been decided to make Headquarters.

    Many small schooners began to arrive bringing refugees from Rabaul and I gave a hand by checking names and numbers for administration officials.
   
    The American Steamer “Golden Bear”, managed to get out of the harbour. It went around the other side of the peninsular from Rabaul and loaded up with refugees who had made their way over the hills surrounding Rabaul to the small village of Namanula.  It arrived off Kokopo about 3.00pm loaded with refugees.

    I knew there was only one operator aboard and thought he would like a hand but discovered that the regular American operator was missing. The Radio Officer (Victor Costner) was killed or disappeared abandoning the ship alongside the wharf in Rabaul when the eruption started.

    Apparently he was immediately behind the Captain at the head of the gangway when they abandoned ship by crawling down the gangway in the smoke and dust but he was never seen again. He probably became disoriented as he was feeling his way along the small rail tracks as the wharf was “U” shaped with an extra arm leading away from the shore.
   
    An AWA operator (Len Coleman) of Rabaul, who had bumped into the ship in Rabaul, was on watch. He was all in, as he had been on duty since 4.00pm the previous day.

    I relieved him and was kept very busy until 3.00am Monday with messages, as all communication had been cut with the outside world.

    The S.S. Island Trader called up (operator Ron Pike) and wanted to know what was going on as he couldn’t raise Rabaul radio and he had obtained some garbled message from the S.S. Montoro, which he couldn’t believe. I gave him brief details of what I knew and at 10.30pm he said they were coming at full speed to render what assistance they could.

    The Burns Philp passenger steamer Montoro, which had arrived off Namanula during the night on the north coast, came alongside in the morning with about 7,000 aboard. She nearly capsized when the passengers, mostly natives, rushed to one side as she turned coming to anchor. At 11.30am, Len Coleman transferred to the Montoro to relieve the operator there (both were employed by AWA).

    A strong breeze arose clearing the air considerably and we could clearly see the island formed by the first eruption. This was calculated by the Captain using his sextant to be 560 feet high in only three days.

    The Montoro, in which I had come up from Sydney as a passenger some months before, had a small shortwave transmitter (whose high tension was supplied by a Ford Spark coil) belonging to the operator aboard. She was in contact with Cooktown and Samarai on short wave while I was on 600 metres (the marine frequency) working the outstations i.e. Madang, Manus, Kavieng and Kieta as well as all shipping within range.

    I was the only means of communication between the refugees, who escaped from Rabaul and Australia from Sunday 30th May till Thursday 3rd June, when the Burns Philp passenger ship Mailata arrived from Madang.

    Captain Olson measured the volcanic cone again at 8.00am and calculated it as 670 feet high in the four days since the eruption started. It had grown over 100 feet in 24 hours.

    I averaged 20 hours 36 minutes watch keeping per day for this period. There were dozens and dozens of messages for dispatch by refugees but the constant lightning caused by the masses of hot air and pumice from two volcanoes interacting with the colder air at high altitude, made reception very difficult. We could clearly see a third eruption crater on the other side of the harbour near Matupi. This was called “The Daughter” from a previous eruption.

    The second volcano, at the end of Vulcan Island had meanwhile been smothered or incorporated in Vulcan itself.

    We learned that a man, a professional photographer in Rabaul, who had gone to photograph Matupi crater erupting, was missing, presumed killed and this was later confirmed.

    On Sunday 30th a twin engined plane from Lae arrived about 12.40pm and flew around the area. I note that the crater (Vulcan) appears more active.

     At 8.30pm I heard Rabaul on the short wave say that the Malaita passenger ship was coming as well as HMAS Moresby from the Gulf of Carpentaria.

    11.15pm what appeared to be lava was flowing in enormous sheets all round the new crater which opened on the Matupi side of the harbour. Also red hot rocks were being thrown up hundreds of feet.

    At 11.40pm a message from Rabaul says position rapidly getting worse and new crater formed in water and a thick layer of pumice all over the harbour makes movement absolutely impossible.
   
    On Monday 31st at 6.00am there is still plenty of pumice and lava with an appreciable increase in the size of the volcanic cone.

    At 9.00am the Administrator left for Rabaul and Len Coleman advises he will be going to Rabaul by the motor schooner Induna Star to help get Rabaul’s main transmitter on the air.

    At 11.00am the temperature has risen from 88 deg F to 93 deg F and by 11.45am it was 97 Degs F. Rabaul advises there is still no sign of the Golden Bear operator and Captain asked if I would take the ship to Honolulu if he does not show up. I agreed to do so.
   
    Much talk among the officials about the Administrators trip to Rabaul without leaving anyone officially in charge when dozens of urgent matters and radio from Prime Minister etc. needed attention.

    Food is now rationed and we are short of water as the cargo of refugees the Golden Bear brought from the north side all had showers to wash the dirt off etc. when they were aboard. First water to arrive will be on the Malaita from the Solomon Islands (not Madang as previously advised) on Friday.

    I am terribly tired from lack of sleep and high temperatures as well as the constant work.

    Monday 31st at 1.30a.m. I advised all Stations within range that I was knocking off for some sleep. At 6.00am I advised them I was back on deck again for some work.

    2.00pm the Montoro had to go to Lae or Madang for water and additional supplies to feed the refugees. The short wave set was taken ashore and another AWA operator requested from Rabaul to man it.

    I had 3 receivers going, one on Rabaul which managed to get on the air with a 25 watt short wave transmitter and emergency generator, one on the short wave set ashore on Kokopo and the other on the marine frequency of 600 meters and thus could keep in touch with everything. If anyone wanted me they just called on their transmitter and as my (Golden Bear’s) transmitter was a 2 kilowatt spark and as broad as a barn door, they could hear me on their short wave sets. At one stage, I was working 2 of them at once. The shortwave set from Montoro failed. More work.

    I went ashore briefly at 3.30pm and found everything fairly organised. So many people allocated to each house and they draw their rations of food from the Government Store.

    Petrol for any use is severely rationed. Some parties are allowed a permit under strict conditions to proceed to Rabaul to obtain essential or personal goods but had to return before dark.

    This is because the water in Rabaul is polluted and all water for Police. etc. has to be taken by schooner to north coast and carried by hand over the hill. Apparently it’s pretty hard work climbing over the thick pumice.

    When I arrived back aboard about 5.00pm I was met by a crowd of people with “urgent” radios to send. They couldn’t get them to Rabaul, which in any case was only handling official stuff and Kokopo couldn’t do any good.

    One sweet young thing had a 650 word press message she impressed on me should be sent right away!!! I took it with the proviso it would be sent after all really urgent messages were cleared but she said hers was really urgent!!

    The captain insisted that he personally clear all press messages for transmission.

    Rabaul got her big short wave set going working with Sydney and this took a lot of work off my hands as all the heads of Government were in Rabaul and all the people were at Kokopo. The Golden Bear cleared all traffic from Madang, Manus, Kavieng and Kieta in the Solomon’s as well as all ship traffic in the area to Samarai.