1850 Tsunami: Philippine Sea, Northwest Pacific Ocean
A tsunami caused by a volcano began at Philippine Sea, Northwest Pacific Ocean in 1850.
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
Travel times
How long the first wave took to reach each part of the ocean, one line for each hour up to 24, estimated from the source and the depth of the sea.
The travel times are computed in your browser, which needs JavaScript.
- 1 to 4 hours
- 5 to 6 hours
- 7 to 14 hours
- 15 hours and more
Computed in your browser the way NOAA’s own travel time maps are: the wave travels at the square root of gravity times the depth, over NOAA’s ETOPO1 depths averaged to a 10 arc-minute grid. Checked against NOAA NCEI’s maps for 21 tsunamis over the first 24 hours, these lines fall within 10 minutes of NCEI’s at half the points compared and within 52 minutes at 9 in 10. They give when the first wave could arrive, not how high it is; bays, harbors and island chains finer than the grid can see it later. Not for use in a warning: see tsunami.gov.
The tsunami
- Date
- 1850
- Source
- Philippine Sea, Northwest Pacific Ocean
- Cause
- Volcano
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Very doubtful tsunami
- Source location
- 20.600° N, 134.800° E
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.
Reference #414:
1850 (no month or date). The American naval vessel "Mary" traveling from the Hawaiian Islands to Hong Kong and situated at 20 deg 36 min N., 134 deg 45 min E., apparently witnessed an underwater eruption. A moderate easterly wind was blowing and the sea was calm. Suddenly, the wind fell, and the sea got rough; the air temperature rose and some smelled sulphur. Several gusts of wind came from different directions, but they were not able to raise the sails before the wind fell. All this continued for about 25 minutes, after which the easterly wind resumed.
More
Every tsunami in 1850The 1800sTsunamis of Northwest Pacific OceanAlerts 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 773.