May 22, 1782 Tsunami: Taiwan Strait

Ref #414:

1782 May 22. Validity 2. An earthquake which affected all of Taiwan Island and caused great destruction, was accompanied by tsunami waves, which ran onto the coast of the island in an east-west direction. Almost the entire island was flooded for a distance of more than 120 km (30 leagues). The tremors and tsunami waves lasted 8 hours. The three main cities of the island and 20 villages were first destroyed by the earthquake and then by the tsunami. Retreating, the water left buildings, at best, as piles of debris. Not a single living soul was left. More than 40,000 residents died. Many ships were smashed or sunk. In place of the capes, jutting into the sea, which were washed out, fresh scarps and gulfs filled with water were formed. Zelandia Fort (Anpin) and Pingkchingi Fort were washed away together with the hills on which they stood.

Ref #150:

1782 May 22. Taiwan strait coast tsunami. Sea rose with great violence and remained its height 1 or 8 hrs. Tsunami [validity 3] swept away villages and many people drowned.

Ref #79:

1782 May 22. Source: South China Sea; Observation Taiwan. Sea rose with great violence and remained high 1 or 8 hours. Swept away villages and drowned immense numbers. No quake mentioned. Wave possibly of meteorological origin.

Ref #8575:

1782 May 22. Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Validity 1, maximum water height 10 m, >40,000 deaths, possibly meteorological

Ref #9719:

The Fo-kien earthquake of 22 May (or Oct?) 1782. Reports from travelers describe a catastrophic tsunami causing up to 40,000 deaths in Taiwan and destroying the forts of Zelandia (presently Tainan) and Pingkchingi (GAZETTE DE FRANCE, 1783), although claims of the island being "nearly entirely covered"' (by water) are clearly fanciful. There is some discrepancy on the date of the event which may also have been accompanied-or triggered-by a volcanic eruption. In the absence of more definitive information on the earthquake

Ref #10200:

The validity of this event is highly questionable because the event was totally unrecorded in any Chinese literature, which is virtually impossible due to its significance. From the official dynastic record (National Palace Museum 1982), there was a storm at Taiwan on 2 June 1782. The storm was reported to have induced some damage, but the crop yield of the whole province (including Fujian & Taiwan) was reported to be not affected. Thus, a great disaster occurring in the region during that period was highly unlikely. The casualty claimed (40,000 lives) was approximately 5% of the whole contemporary population of Taiwan, which could have seriously damaged the stability and economy of the society. This event is invalidated due to its unreasonably long period. Even if it is assumed validated, it still could not pass the confirmation.

Ref #11288:

the phenomena described in this [historical] report (e.g., the sea suddenly roared like thunder, and sea retreat quickly, exposing leaping fishes and shrimps) are comparable to the classic features found in descriptions of tsunami events.

Ref #13523:

1782 tsunami event is clarified not to be a typographical error of the 1867 Keelung tsunami proposed by Lin (2006) since the literature records had existed already before the year 1867 […] the historical documents […] put the existence of the 1782 earthquake in doubt […] active submarine mud volcanoes were observed in the offshore area of southwest Taiwan