June 5, 1858 Tsunami: North Sea, United Kingdom

Reference #3946: "...in the English channel - the sea on the French and English coasts first retiring suddenly and then returning with great violence to a much higher level." This reference is citing the Illustrated London News of 12th June, 1858, page. 575.

Reference #9574:

Clement reported on ‘‘the enigmatic tidal phenomenon of the three oceanic earthquake waves in the North Sea on June 5th, 1858: Three consecutive waves from the Atlantic Ocean approximately from WSW brought unexpected high seas independent from low or high tides’’ (Clement, 1858, p. 123) […] Perrey (1862, p.29. reference #14182) says in his comprehensive book on earthquakes in different years of the 19th century of three giant waves (‘‘trois vagues e´normes’’) coming from the Atlantic Ocean by a submarine earthquake independent of tides. Mostly he follows Clement (1958).

Some meteorological features were combined with the tsunami waves: the Colonne et l’Observateur (1858) reported a veritable tornado near Boulogne-sur-Mer on June 6, as in Calais and Le Havre, but this might also have been due to the warm summer weather and the impact of cold air.

On this day there were extremely strong thunderstorms in England […] clearly state that the weather in Germany was fine and the sea was calm. For singular high waves under these conditions, Germans use the term Seebar (which means sea bear and is thought to be caused by seismic events)

Other contemporary authors concluded that the source was seismic, such as Perrey (1864), who called it tremblement sous-marin, which means an underwater earthquake. For the Sylt Island area, Hansen (1870, p.138) raised the possibility of an earthquake at sea and Clement (1858) described ‘‘three oceanic earthquake waves in the North Sea on June 5, 1858’’. The newspaper Hamburgische Correspondent (Staatsund Gelehrte Zeitung, 1858) used these words: ‘‘whether this event was connected to any earthquake is only known to God’’.

Boll is the only author who tried to combine all the available reports, registering the early events at Le Havre, Calais, etc. with respect to more northerly locations. His conclusion is: ‘‘The large area which exhibited the phenomena enforces the conclusion of a strong submarine earthquake, which centre point, however, is totally unknown to us’’ (1863, p. 121).

The renowned Danish universal scientist I. Steenstrup concluded in 1871 that an earthquake was the source of the waves. This was rejected by seismologist E. G. Harboe in the year 1915. He argued that climatic factors, like a cyclonic storm, were the cause.

Regarding modern interpretation of the event of 1858, the conclusions of the Danish Meteorological Institute are the most developed: “[‘‘There evidently is no doubt that the North Sea has been hit (in 1858) by a tsunami with a regional extension” [translated by reference #9574]

The earthquake catalogues do not show an event in the area of the Bay of Biscay or south of here to the Gorringe Bank. The only significant earthquake in 1858 in the area occurred on November 11.

Reference #14269:

English Channel 1858. A series of waves hit the east coast of Kent at around 0900h on the morning of the 5 June 1858. Newig and Kelletat (2011) presents the Ramsgate harbourmasters report, which mentions an undulation of the tidal column. Reports, also presented by Newig and Kelletat (2011), mention waves impacting the north coast of France, Belgium and the Netherlands, and the east coast of Denmark. The conclusions made by Newig and Kelletat (2011) are that the most likely explanation is a meteotsunami with an origin near the coast of France, Spain or Portugal.

Reference #14326:

This is most likely a meteotsunami and therefore is considered a non-tsunami event.