May 3, 1481 Earthquake: Rhodes, Greece

May 3, 1481. Rhodes. Most probably this was a crustal earthquake originating offshore at Adalia followed by aftershocks, which caused great alarm but no damage. As a result of the earthquake the sea rose and fell 3 m, flooding the city of Rhodes.... (ref #9116)

May 3, 1481. In 1481 the island of Rhodes was shaken by earthquakes which lasted ten months. This seismic activity is described...

... the first of these shocks was felt in the city of Rhodes at nine in the morning of Mar 15 (1481); this shock was followed by many other which threw the populace in consternation. At 3 in the night of May 3, a much stronger shock occurred and at the same time it began to rain, with such an impetuosity, that it was thought that the island was sinking under the weight of the sky. While the land was shaking with great violence, a strong wind coming from the high seas caused the water to rise over ten feet above sea level, and flooding the land threatened the city of Rhodes with total and final destruction. The wind was so violent, and the shocks so numerous (the ground was shaken, seven times that day) that the Rhodians thought their island was bound to sink. Soon after, however, all of a sudden, the waters retired to their habitual places, the sea became calm again, and the shaking of the ground stopped. It was found that not a single house in the city collapsed. In the harbour only, the violence of the waves caused the cables of a large ship to snap, which drifted and crashed on a reef, sinking with all its crew. The shaking of the ground continued till the 3rd of October when it stopped for a few weeks. But the physical primer mover of these subterraneous phenomena which produce earthquakes, soon after, built up again, and repeated earthquakes reoccurred on Dec 18. (ref #26)

May 3, 1481, night (also Mar 15, May 5,12, Oct 3, Dec 18), (36N, 28E or 38.2N, 28.5E, intensity IX or intensity X, magnitude 7.1, tsunami intensity 3). Hellenic Arc, Island of Rhodes. The strong earthquake caused destruction in the town of Rhodes; many people were killed. Numerous aftershocks were felt till the second half of 1482. Then the sea rose over 3 m (from other data 1.8 m) and gushed onto the shore. Mooring lines of a big ship lying in the harbour were torn; a ship ran on a reef and was lost with all its crew when the water receded. The damage done by the tsunami waves was greater than the damage caused by the earthquake. (ref #2130).

The first strong shock of 18 March 1481 caused considerable damage in Cyprus but not in Rhodes […] The next strong earthquake of 3 May 1481, although did not damage Rhodes, yet it triggered a ~3 m-high-tsunami (ref #13796)

According to Coronelli and Parisotti (1688), the shocks started on 15 March and caused fear to the inhabitants. At the night of 3 May the largest shock occurred which was associated by a sea wave of 3m height in the coast. The wave flooded the land and in the harbor a ship was taken off, smashed in a reef and sank with all its crew. When the sea becarne calm and the water backed out, it was established that no house collapsed. (ref #4408)