April 17, 1857 Tsunami: Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 8 earthquake and a landslide began at Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea on April 17, 1857. Its effects were recorded at 5 places in at least 2 countries.
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
- April 17, 1857
- Source
- Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea
- Cause
- Earthquake and landslide
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 8
- Volcano
- The eruption that caused it
- Runups recorded
- 5
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 1.5
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 5.500° S, 147.000° E
The toll
- Deaths
- Some (about 51 to 100)
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Some (about 51 to 100)
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.
Reference #414:
1857 (1856), April 17, validity 3, immediately after sunset. There was a powerful tremor on Umboi Island (Rooke), in the passage between New Guinea and New Britain. A few seconds later, a second, stronger shock knocked down a stove. This was followed by more shocks, but of lesser force. In the morning it was found that large landslides had occurred; cracks 1 m wide had formed in the ground and extended from Nurua village to the sea shore. West of Tolociwa Island (Lotten), a volcano supposedly rose from the water and smoked for a long time. After the tremor, the sea "began to move".
Between 1856 and 1858 in the Miklucho-Maklay coast in Astrolabe Bay. According to local residents, the village of Aralu, situated between the mouths of the Kabenau and Koli Rivers, was destroyed by an earthquake and a subsequent tidal wave. Since this happened at night, only a few men and two women could be saved. They founded a new village, and called it Gambu. A tsunami was observed in Irian Bay.
(Evidently this is the same event as the preceding description.)
Reference #79:
1856. Dampier Strait, New Guinea. Aralu village overwhelmed.
Reference #99:
1856. Maclay coast, New Guinea. Remarks by de Miklouho-
Maclay, 1884 (ref #12433). Talking about earthquakes, the natives informed me, that on a former occasion, before my arrival on the coast in 1871, a village named Aralu (situated on the coast between the rivers, Kabeneu and Koli) had been completely swept away by the waves after an earthquake. All the huts and the coconut trees surrounding them, were broken down and carried away by the tidal waves, and the inhabitants, men, women and children were drowned (it occurred during the night). A few men belonging to the village and who happened to be away at the time on a visit to some neighbouring village would not attempt to rebuild their huts on the old place, but went to live at Gumbu now Yeimas, also a coastal village but which had escaped destruction being built further inland. The destruction of Aralu was remembered by not very old people and it took place I suppose about the year 1856. The natives on the Maclay-Coast complained about the sickness in the villages on the coast which happened soon after the destruction of Aralu. The sickness amongst them, I believe, was the result of decomposition of animal and vegetable matter left behind on shore after the inundation produced by the high tidal wave, as has been observed, on some islands of the Pacific.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Umboi Island (Ruk, Rooke, Siassi) | Papua New Guinea | 111 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Dampier Strait | Papua New Guinea | 133 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Aralu, Astrolabe Bay | Papua New Guinea | 139 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Geelvink Bay (Sarera Bay) | Indonesia | 1,341 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Irian Bay | Indonesia | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1857The 1800sTsunamis of Papua New GuineaThe earthquakeThe eruptionThis 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 869.