On 27 August, a series of four huge explosions almost entirely destroyed the island. The explosions were so violent that they were heard away in Perth, Western Australia, and the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius, away. The pressure wave from the third and most violent explosion was recorded on barographs around the world. Several barographs recorded the wave seven times over the course of five days: four times with the wave travelling away from the volcano to its antipodal point, and three times travelling back to the volcano; the wave rounded the globe three and a half times. Ash was propelled to a height of . The sound of the eruption was so loud it was reported that if anyone was within , they would have gone deaf.