October 3, 1780 Tsunami: Savanna LA Mar, Jamaica

Date disputed as October 2 or October 3; this is probably due to "local time" versus Universal time. The event may not have been related to a tsunami following an earthquake. It may be related to a storm surge. [22:00 Local time.] "An earthquake was reported to have occurred during a hurricane at Savanna La Mar, Jamaica. The sea rose to 3 m at 0.8 km from the beach and swept away a number of houses. Ten people were killed by the wave, and approximately 300 deaths resulted from the storm. All vessels in the bay were dashed to pieces or driven ashore. It is believed to be a spurious tsunami report, with the effects due to the hurricane storm surge. Heck, Milne, and Berninghausen all quote a date of Oct. 2, as reported by Perrey (Reference #501). Millas (Reference #1497) reports Oct. 3 as the date of the storm. Berninghausen (Reference #43) also gives Oct. 22 for this event, incorrectly citing Mallet (Reference #496), who gives the date as Oct. 2" (Lander et al., Reference #537). Heck (Reference #132) says: "Great wave caused by hurricane was definitely not seismic."