00:14The Spirit of Death and Destruction
00:19Wails her message over time
00:24Never forget, never forget
00:28She will come again someday
00:33Someday
00:36Cyclone Mahina was the deadliest tropical cyclone
00:40In Australia's recorded history
00:42And probably one of the most intense ever recorded
00:46More than 300 people died
00:49The great majority of whom were divers and seamen
00:53From Southeast Asia, the Taurus, Strait and Pacific Islands
00:56Who worked on the Thursday Island pearling fleet
01:07It was anchored around Bathurst Bay, Queensland
01:13When the cyclone struck
01:15When Mahina struck
01:19There were about 1,000 men, women and children
01:25On board around eight schooners
01:28And more than 100 luggers anchored in the Princess Charlotte Bay
01:43More than half of the fleet was destroyed during the night
01:47And at least 307 people were killed of the Bathurst Bay schooners
01:52Only crest of the wave survived because its captain, William Porter, a New Zealander
01:57Cut down its mass to prevent it from capsizing
02:01A British East India ship, the Duke of Norfolk was the first to reach the area on 5th March
02:07And picked up Captain Porter's wife and baby from their schooner
02:10Despite Porter having reported the destruction of the pearling fleet
02:15The Duke of Norfolk did not actively search for other survivors
02:20News of the cyclone did not reach Brisbane until 8 March
02:24And a rescue effort was launched two days later
02:28The local indigenous people had already buried
02:31The many bodies that had washed up on shore
02:34Nevertheless, some people did survive
02:37The newspaper reports carried stories of men and women
02:40Swimming for days to reach land with people who could not swim supported on their backs
02:47Cyclone Mahina in the record books, Mahina was a Category 5 cyclone
02:51As are all cyclones with a central pressure of 929 hectopascals or less
02:59Cyclone Tracy had a pressure of 950 hectopascals
03:03And Cyclone Yazi, which crossed the North Queensland coast in 2011
03:09Registered 929 hectopascals
03:13The storm with the lowest recorded pressure
03:17870 hectopascals
03:19Was Typhoon Tip in 1979
03:22According to the Pearling Disaster, 1899
03:25At Mahina's Peak, Captain Porter took a bariatric pressure reading of 27 inches of mercury
03:32Equal to 914 hectopascals
03:37Recently, researchers have found historical evidence to suggest that Porter actually recorded a much lower pressure
03:4426 inches, 880 hectopascals
03:47But no one at the time believed such a measure was possible
03:51If the pressure of Mahina did fall to 880 hectopascals
03:56This would make it one of the most intense Trandical Cyclones ever recorded
04:00Capable of producing a sea water inundation of 13 meters
04:08Mahina, monster storm
04:11Hope we never see the likes of her again
04:14But we might someday, what has happened before
04:18Likely will again
04:20Big cycle, spinning on
04:27The spirit of death and destruction
04:31Wails her message over time
04:36Never forget, never forget
04:40She will come again someday, someday
04:46Baby
04:47Big cycle, rotating on
04:57Can we get a score
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