Eruption Of Underwater Volcano, Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Ngata, Nuku and Niukapu decided to wrap their combined bodies under a large mat and land in Hihifo, giving the impression of a large man with three heads. This is the origin of the ʻUlutolu (Three Head Story) and of the Haʻa Tuʻi Kanokupolu, third lineage King of Tonga. They named the swampy area as Nuku (Land) ʻAlofa (Love) or the Land of Love, thus Nukuʻalofa started as an uninhabited swamp.
First Record of Nukuʻalofa by Captain Cook 1777
On 10 June 1777 Captain Cook wrote of his arrival at their anchorage place. His description of the place confirmed, with his map, that this was the bay of Nukuʻalofa.
"At length, about two in the afternoon, we arrived at our intended station. It was a very snug place, formed by the shore of Tongataboo on the South East, and two small islands on the East and North East. Here we anchored in ten fathoms water, over a bottom of oozy sand; distant from the shore one-third of a mile."