January 19, 1813 Tsunami: Nova Scotia, Canada
A tsunami probably caused by an earthquake began at Nova Scotia, Canada on January 19, 1813 at 15:30 UTC. The water rose as high as 1.8 meters. Its effects were recorded at 1 place.
Where the waves reached
The source (white) and every runup with a place, colored by the water height recorded there. A ring is a runup NCEI marks doubtful.
- 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 19, 1813, 15:30 UTC
- Source
- Nova Scotia, Canada
- Cause
- Questionable earthquake
- Maximum water height
- 1.8 m (5.9 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Questionable tsunami
The toll
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
This is a previously unreported Nova Scotia event. On this day there was some severe wind followed by a calm. An "uncommon bore, or influx of the sea" five or six feet high ran up the harbour very quickly hitting five vessels, stowing i n one of their sterns and moving them upstream. These five and three others grounded upstream. Two others broke free and were carried seaward over the bar. Rising icee destroyed a bridge. Haliburton (1829) reported "A rumbling noise, not unlike that of of thunder, having been heard a short time previous, ..., this phenomenon has been generally attributed to the shock of an Earthquake".
This tidal event is believed to be real.
The three descriptions are all somewhat different and indicate different dates.
There is no mention of a prior withdrawal of water prior to the sudden rise as is common with tsunami.
All reports mention an earlierr storm or "squal[sic] of wind, hail and rain" followed by a calm with rain ; only Haliburton (1829) mentions a violent wind and a sudden reversal of the wind. There is a nagging concern that this tidal event might have been only caused by a severe atmospheric anomaly. However, it does appear to have been a tsunami and should be entered in the Canada Earthquake Epicentre File (CEEF) i n the tsunami section, to have been the rresult of a possible local earthquake. The event deserves further research to locate the other sources and to see if some distant causative earthquake can be defined i n the worldwide epicentre file for all the Atlantic .
(above from reference #3935)
Every runup
Nearest the source first. Heights are above sea level at the time; a tide gauge reads half the wave’s full height.
| Where | Country | Km from source | Water height, m | Inland, m | Measured by | First wave, UTC | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool Harbour, Nova Scotia, NS | Canada | 1.8 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1813The 1800sTsunamis of CanadaThis 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 6147.