June 20, 1891 Tsunami: Banda Sea, Indonesia
A tsunami of unknown cause began at Banda Sea, Indonesia on June 20, 1891. Its effects were recorded at 3 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
- June 20, 1891
- Source
- Banda Sea, Indonesia
- Cause
- Unknown
- Runups recorded
- 3
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 4.000° S, 129.000° 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.
1891, June 20. There was a tsunami of unknown origin on the east of Indonesia. At Saparua, waves were observed from 20:00 to 20:30. The sea retreated about 200 m from shore several times and rushed back rapidly a moment later. These movements of the water were also observed at other places in Ambon Department. No earthquake was felt at that time. The flood and ebb movements of the water were not noticed on the government steamship "Havik," which was riding at anchor in front of Saparua Bay. On the next day, from noon to about 16:00, the surf in the bay was stronger than usual and was even so heavy that a sloop launched from the steamship could not approach the moorage, and returned to the steamship. Weak movements of the water were observed at Bandaneira from 22:00 on the 20th to 2:00 on the 21st. The movements were very noticeable all around Lonthor Island, especially at Lonthor itself. The tidal waves surged onto the coast at Lonthor, but did not go beyond the usual flood tide marks and did not do any harm. (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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saparua Island | Indonesia | 62 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Lonthor Island, Banda Islands | Indonesia | 114 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Bandanaira (Banda-Neira), Banda Is. | Indonesia | 116 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1891The 1800sTsunamis of IndonesiaThis 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 1187.