August 18, 1797 Tsunami: Dorset, England, United Kingdom
A tsunami of meteorological origin began at Dorset, England, United Kingdom on August 18, 1797.
Where the waves reached
The source of the tsunami. No runup with a place is recorded for it.
- Under 1 m
- 1 to 3 m
- 3 to 10 m
- 10 to 30 m
- 30 m and more
- Height not recorded
The tsunami
- Date
- August 18, 1797
- Source
- Dorset, England, United Kingdom
- Cause
- Meteorological
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Questionable tsunami
The toll
The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this tsunami.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
Lyme Regis 1797. Perrey (1872) is the single source that reports an unusual sea disturbance on 18 August 1797 – sea flowed 3 times in one hour, attended by lightening [sic]. This is consistent with a meteotsunami, but in the absence of additional evidence, we can only conclude that this is a ‘possible’ meteotsunami. (reference #14269)
More
Every tsunami in 1797The 1700sTsunamis of United KingdomThis day in weather historyAlerts in force
Sources
Tsunami events and runups from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI tsunami event 6098.