February 16, 1810 Tsunami: Crete, Greece

February 17, 1810, Saturday, Hellenic Arc. At the beginning of the seventh hour of the night, three strong shocks were felt in Cairo with a total duration of about four minutes. During the late afternoon, there was another earthquake, which though weaker than the first, still caused fear and agitation. These effects were produced by a large, probably intermediate-depth event with an epicentre off Crete, where many places were destroyed and many people killed. All the other islands in the southern part of the Archipelago suffered some damage. In Malta, the shock caused panic, and widespread minor damage in Valletta, where ships in the harbour were violently shaken. The effects extended to Syria; in Lattakia, it is related that ancient buildings that had previously been swallowed up were seen at the bottom of a chasm, before it closed up again. The shock was also felt in central Italy, Turkey, Cyprus and various parts of North Africa. Minor damage was reported from Rashid (Rosetta) and Alexandria, where the earthquake set up waves in the harbour and in canals. The shock was probably also strongly felt in the Siwa oasis. (reference #3845)

Contemporary press reports dated April 1810, presumably originating from Lloyds List, referring to the state of the Matapan sea route, note that ‘ recent and successive earthquakes and ensuing heavy seas played havoc with Cerigo and the mainland and the coast of the mainland'. […] In Rosette and Alexandria in Egypt the shock caused great panic and minor damage and the sea in the port was set in motion (PGM 1810, 372–373. (reference #9116)

Reference #11164 lists 17 Feb 1810, as an improbable tsunami.

17 Feb 1810. tsunami intensity: 2/3. This was a large, possibly interplate earthquake located offshore Crete, which caused great destruction in Heraklion [Mallet, 1855; Stavrakes, 1890; Platakes, 1950; Ambraseys et al., 1994; Papazachos and Papazachou, 2003]. Some damage was also caused in South Aegean islands as well as in remote places of the Mediterranean Sea such as Cairo, Rosetta, and Alexandria in Egypt as well as in Malta. The shock was felt as far as Cyprus, Syria, and central Italy. In Valletta, Malta, ships in the harbor were violently shaken while in Alexandria the earthquake set up waves in the harbor and in canals (Ambraseys et al., 1994). The account that in the harbor of Valletta ships were violently shaken indicates rather a seiche than tsunami wave. The estimation of tsunami intensity in the QLC concerns the tsunami-like waves observed in Alexandria. (reference #13474)