January 27, 1854 Tsunami: Kodiak Island, AK, United States
A tsunami caused by an earthquake and a landslide began at Kodiak Island, AK, United States on January 27, 1854 at 18:10 UTC. The water rose as high as 2.4 meters. Its effects were recorded at 2 places.
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
- January 27, 1854, 18:10 UTC
- Source
- Kodiak Island, AK, United States
- Cause
- Earthquake and landslide
- Earthquake
- The earthquake
- Maximum water height
- 2.4 m (7.9 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 2
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 0.5
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 57.000° N, 152.000° 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.
1854, January 27. An earthquake shortly after 8 A.M. lasted more than a minute in Pavlovskaya Harbor (Saint Paul's Harbor, now Kodiak on Kodiak Island). "At the first onset of the underground thunder on January 16 [January 27, Gregorian calendar] the water in the harbor advanced and receded uncommonly at 2- and 3-minute intervals and there was a strong eddy" (Soloviev and Go, 1974). Both the statement that the waves began at the first onset of the shaking and the short period of the waves suggest a local
landslide source.
This event was not recorded by the tide gages at San Diego, San Pedro, or North Beach, but apparently was observed in Hilo. Cox and Morgan (1977, p. 14) cite a letter dated January 30 written by Titus Coan, a missionary at Hilo. Coan mentioned unusual water level oscillations
occurring not long before. Cox and Morgan estimate that the wave was 4 to 8 feet-large enough to have been noteworthy and yet not to have caused damage. Given the lack of a
recording, the event would have to have been quite small. Validity 3.
(above from reference #239)
Hawaiian Islands. Perrey reproduces a report from Hilo by the missionary T. Coan dated January 30, 1854, which says "The recently renewed oscillations in the sea level off the coast of Hawaii Island made us think that an underwater eruption had taken place at the foot of the island or somewhere among the mountain chains or individual volcanoes hidden under the waters of the Pacific" (Reference #415).
1854, January 16, soon after 9:00 local time. There was an earthquake lasting more than a minute in Pavlovskaya Harbor (Saint Paul Harbor) on Kodiak Island. Then up to six perceptible oscillations were felt for an hour and weak ones were felt all day. The earthquake recurred twice on the night of the 17th, and weak oscillations were felt until January 21. "At the first peal of the underground thunder on January 16th, the water in the harbor advanced and receded uncommonly at 2 and 3 minute intervals and there was a strong eddy". [This was observed on the Hawaiian Islands?] (Reference #414).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint Pauls Harbor, Kodiak Is., AK, AK | United States | 88 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Hilo, Hawaii, HI, HI | United States | 4,145 | 2.4 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1854The 1800sTsunamis of United StatesThe 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 818.