June 29, 1780 Earthquake: Kuril Islands, Russia

Reference #150:

1780, June 29. 45.3 N, 151.2 E, magnitude 7.5, validity 4, tsunami magnitude 3. Russian ship thrown up inland. 12 deaths. 10-12m high at Urup. Tsunami hit the east coast of Hokkaido.

Reference #413:

1780, June 29. The tsunami of this year influenced to some degree the development of Russo-Japanese relations in the second half of the 18th century (Berg, 1946; Polonsky, 1871). Russian ships visited Japan for the first time in 1739 during the 2nd Kamchatka Expedition. As a result of the cruise a chart of the Kurile Islands was compiled, but no trade negotiations were carried on.

In 1775 the trader Lebedev-Lastochkin outfitted the first large trading vessel for the Southern Kuriles, which however, broke up on the island of Urup. In 1777 he fitted out a second ship, the Sviataia Nataliia, under the command of Antipin, Shebalin, and the pilot Petushkov. The ship reached the east coast of Urup, where the base camp of the expedition was set up. Thence Antipin and Shebalin reached Hokkaido in skin boats in the summer of 1778 and carried on negotiations for the conclusion of a commercial treaty. The Japanese promised to conclude a treaty in a year at Kunashir. In the summer of 1779 Lebedev again headed the Sviataia Nataliia south, but this cruise was unsuccessful. The trade negotiations fell through, fur trading was poor, and finally, on June 18, 1780, after wintering at Urup, the ship, already prepared to sail for Okhotsk, was cast on the shore by a tsunami. Antipin returned to Kamchatka in a skin boat and reported all that had happened. Lebedev, after a number of unsuccessful attempts to get the ship off the beach, turned to the conquest of the Aleutian Islands.

The tsunami and the earthquake were reported in Antipin's journal of the trip. Excerpt from the journal follows:

On January 8, 1780, on the 18th island, called Urup, there were great quakings of the earth, every day, both by day and by night. On some days there were seven or eight big ones, and other days the earth quietly and ceaselessly quivered. From that time on all of the people were in fear, but in spring, they roused themselves to hunt for food, both for the voyage to Okhotsk and to supply provisions for the people left behind. And beginning the first of June the ship was readied for caulking and for being moved out of the creek into the cove at its mouth. On June 18 [June 18 Julian date is equal to June 29 in Gregorian calendar], in the night before morning, almost at dawn, there was a great and terrible quaking of the earth, which continued for a quarter of an hour … they looked at the sea: in the distance fires flashed like lightning... From the time of the flood up until our departure there were frequent quakes every day. On the 17th (Chirpoi), 16th (Simushir), and 15th (Ketoi) islands, also, there were frequent tremors while we were there.

Reference #1055:

Lists an earthquake in 1780 May in Japan, Chishima or Kurile islands