December 11, 1853 Tsunami: Dalmatia - Adriatic Sea, Montenegro
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 5.3 earthquake began at Dalmatia - Adriatic Sea, Montenegro on December 11, 1853 at 16:15 UTC. The water rose as high as 1 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
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
- December 11, 1853, 16:15 UTC
- Source
- Dalmatia - Adriatic Sea, Montenegro
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 5.3
- Maximum water height
- 1 m (3.3 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 3
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Very doubtful tsunami
- Source location
- 42.400° N, 18.600° E
The toll
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Houses damaged
- Few (about 1 to 50) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
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.
1853 Dec 11, 16h 15m +/- 15m. Adriatic Sea, Dalmatia. A strong earthquake took place on the shore [...] The earth in the town of Baosic near the sea rose, and the sea water rose even higher - to the height of 1 m (half a fathom). [Listed as questionable or possible tsunami] (reference #2130)
1853 Dec 11, Boka Kotorska. [...] However, from the wider context, our opinion is that the above-mentioned lifting of water refers to groundwater and not to sea level. (reference #9531)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baosici | Montenegro | 5 | 1 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1853The 1800sTsunamis of MontenegroThe earthquakeThis 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 3376.