January 7, 1799 Tsunami: Basinder, Iceland
A tsunami of meteorological origin began at Basinder, Iceland on January 7, 1799.
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
- January 7, 1799
- Source
- Basinder, Iceland
- Cause
- Meteorological
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Erroneous entry
- Source location
- 63.920° N, 22.695° W
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.
Berninghausen (Reference #43) cites the date as January 7 and 8 and says: "An earthquake accompanied by a storm. The sea inundated the country." He states his source as Mallet, Reference #1879. The location was probably around Basinder (near Hafnir), on the Reykjanesta peninsula. This village was destroyed January 9, 1799 by a wave accompanying a storm. The event was probably a storm surge.
More
Every tsunami in 1799The 1700sTsunamis of IcelandThis 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 582.