December 1886 Tsunami: Jackson Bay, South Island, New Zealand
A tsunami caused by a landslide began at Jackson Bay, South Island, New Zealand in December 1886.
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
The tsunami
- Date
- December 1886
- Source
- Jackson Bay, South Island, New Zealand
- Cause
- Landslide
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 43.957° S, 168.616° 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.
In mid-December 1886, on a particularly stormy night following several days of extremely wet weather at Jackson Bay on the West Coast of the South Island, a number of landslides were seen and heard by a party of surveyors, one of whose letters recording events was published in the Grey River Argus (12 January 1886). The correspondent wrote that on the morning after the landslides into the settlement, "we saw the whole hill on the side of the bay, about three miles [4.5 km] away, rise in the air and fall into the bay. It raised a column of water and foam about 30ft. [10 m] high. It was a grand sight. The wave was 6ft [1.8 m] high when I reached the front of the bay." This undoubtedly describes a tsunami, albeit confined to a large coastal bay. A validity of 4 is assigned. (reference #5324)
More
Every tsunami in 1886The 1800sTsunamis of New ZealandAlerts 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 5545.