Simpson Harbour is a sheltered harbour of Blanche Bay , on the Gazelle Peninsula in the extreme north of New Britain . The harbour is named after Captain Cortland Simpson, who surveyed the bay while in command of HMS Blanche in 1872. The former capital city of Rabaul is on its shores.
5-500: The harbour is part of a huge flooded caldera, Rabaul caldera . The harbour is ringed by a number of volcanoes. The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force captured Rabaul during World War I after entering Simpson Harbour. During World War II , the Imperial Japanese utilised the harbour as a major naval base. Approximately 65 Japanese ships were sunk in the harbour by Allied air attacks. The surrender of
10-563: Is a large volcano on the tip of the Gazelle Peninsula in East New Britain , Papua New Guinea , and derives its name from the town of Rabaul inside the caldera . The caldera has many sub-vents, Tavurvur being the most well known for its devastating eruptions over Rabaul . The outer flanks of the highest peak, a 688-metre-high asymmetrical pyroclastic shield , are formed by thick pyroclastic flow deposits. There
15-427: Is no sign of a pyroclastic shield along the rim of the caldera, making the location likely underwater, on the caldera's floor. Tavurvur , a stratovolcano and a sub-vent of the caldera, is the most visibly active, continuously throwing ash. In 1994 it, and nearby Vulcan , erupted and devastated Rabaul; however, due to planning for such a catastrophe, the townsfolk were prepared and only five people were killed. One of
20-674: The Japanese forces of New Guinea, New Britain, and the Solomon Islands took place on 6 September 1945 in a ceremony aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Glory . Representing the Japanese were General Hitoshi Imamura , Commander Eighth Area Army , and Admiral Jinichi Kusaka , Commander Southeast Area Fleet . This East New Britain Province geography article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Rabaul caldera The Rabaul caldera , or Rabaul Volcano ,
25-752: The deaths was caused by lightning, a feature of volcanic ash clouds. In 1937, Vulcan and Tavurvur erupted simultaneously, killing 507 people. This event led to the founding of the Rabaul Volcano Observatory , which watches over the many active volcanoes in Papua New Guinea. One eruption over several days in March 2008 released a plume of ash and water vapor that drifted northwest over the Bismarck Sea . After this eruption, GPS data showed deflation of Tavurvur cone. Seismicity
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