June 3, 1770 Tsunami: Port-Au-Prince, Haiti

19:15 Local time. A strong earthquake caused 200 fatalities in Port-au-Prince. Southey (Reference #504) states that "the sea rose a league and a half up into the island," but doesn't mention where this occurred. Scherer (Reference #530) says that at Grand Goave, the foot of the mountain of La Saline was partly submerged; at Arcahaie north of Port-au-Prince, a wave was recorded. Berninghausen (Reference #43) cites Mallet (Reference #496) and gives a similar report dated 1769 (two reports of the same event). It is possible that the 1769 event information is actually for this June 3, 1770, event.

Ref #13373:

A second account from a ship captain stated that, “a very high mountain standing close by the shore was thrown into the sea, which caused a swell to rise to a height of 130 feet above the common surface” (Boston Evening Post, 1770). The account does not, however, state where this dramatic event occurred, and no other accounts describe wave heights on that order. A third report published in a French newspaper (La Gazette, 1770) stated that the sea rose several feet at Port-au-Prince, and the vessels in the harbor were jostled but not damaged. This report stated that the water rose higher at Leogane, and part of the plains were flooded. Nicolson (1776) stated that “stagnant waters become agitated seas, which splash/run out of their basins, and inundate the places adjacent to them.” We conclude that these accounts suggest that modest local tsunami waves were caused by slumping or landslides, as Hornbach et al. (2010) concluded occurs commonly in the region, with no evidence suggesting a significant tectonic tsunami.