June 29, 1780 Tsunami: S. Kuril Islands, Russia

Ref #413:

1780 June 29. Excerpt from journal of the ship's commander: On Jan 8, 1780, on the 18th island, called Urup, there were great quakings of the earth, every day, both by day and by night... 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. And a little while after the quake there was suddenly a loud rumbling. That was the running out to sea of a strange, swift tide. Stones which had been in the sea by the shore were left dry. And with the same noise first the water ran in from the sea in a great wave, and the whole shore, except for the bluff, was covered, and then the water, swiftly and with the same noise, returned to the sea. And the sea fell even more than before... And the water came swiftly from the sea like a wall, rising higher than all of the small shore crags by 5 or 6 sazhens, and it suddenly poured into the cove with as strong and sharp an onslaught as on the bluffs of the river. Our yurts and huts and everything that was there, to the last post, were torn from the ground and carried away up the creek into the gulch. And all of the people and their gear were carried along the gulch. Even stones which had been at the mouth of the creek were rolled out and carried away. There was an iron cannon on the bluff -- it was found about 50 sazhens away. And the gulches near the sea were filled with water to the top. The ship, the brigantine Sviataia Natalica, was carried with its anchor straight along the creek over the tundra into the gulch and was set down on dry ground near a rivulet. From the sea to the ship was 190 sazhens. And the breadth of the low ground across the gulch at the place where the ship was would be about 100 sazhen. Of the working people, they found 4 dead after the water went down. And all that day until evening the water went back and forth, rising and falling, only less from hour to hour. And afterwards the people gathered all of the baggage that had been carried away and dried it. And after several days they went in skin boats to visit their people who had been elsewhere. They learned that the eastern and southern sides of the island had been inundated by the flood. At one place eight of the natives were drowned, they said. On the north side of the island there was no flood and the water did not rise at all. It is not known whether there was a rising of the water beyond where we were, on the 19th (Iturup) and 20th (Kumashir) islands. On June 28 Shabalin lent people to Kamchatka in one skin boat with the report, and I had to follow them on July 1 through the islands from the 18th. 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. The sea flood which had risen on the 18th island had also come up on these islands but less. On the 14th (Ushishir) and other islands closer to Kamchatka there were no longer frequent quakes and there had been no rising of the waters.

Erroneously reported on following dates in other publications: June 18, Jan 19

Ref #150, #3785:

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

Ref #13547 states the logbook of Russian ship St. Natalia does not contain information of tsunami observations on Etorofu Island or islands to the southwest. Reported tsunami observations on the east coast of Hokkaido (i.e., Iida 1984, ref#150) are misinterpretations, originating from the Omori's perception that the tsunami in Urup started trade between Russian and residents in Hokkaido