The aim of this paper is to begin a study of the waves produced by the collapse of a caldera connected to the sea. An example is the bronze age collapse of the caldera of Santorini (Thera), which is thought to have involved an area of approximately 70 km2 subsiding to a depth close to the present 390 m. In this paper, we concentrate on the purely mechanical aspects of the flow and adopt a simple geometry that replicates some of the features of the pre-bronze age caldera of Santorini. By combining laboratory experiments with computer simulations, we have been able to determine the amplitude of the waves for a wide range of cavity parameters. For cavities with a width comparable to the depth of water entering the cavity, we have determined a scaling relation for the amplitude in terms of the geometry of the system. In the case of wider cavities, the flow begins like a breaking dam flow; it then becomes similar to a classical bore before breaking up into waves. The computer simulations agree well with experiment and will allow us to simulate more complicated geometries.