August 1892 Tsunami: Espiritu Santo Island, Vanuatu
A tsunami of unknown cause began at Espiritu Santo Island, Vanuatu in August 1892. Its effects were recorded at 1 place.
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
- August 1892
- Source
- Espiritu Santo Island, Vanuatu
- Cause
- Unknown
- Earthquake
- The earthquake
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 1.5
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Questionable tsunami
- Source location
- 15.250° S, 166.830° 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.
Reference #414:
1892, August, first week [no date], about 0:20, validity 2. At Luganville (Espiritu Santo Island), there was a very strong shock. At about this time, an eyewitness, Daville, who was sleeping on the top deck of a small schooner, abeam of Requin, suddenly woke up and saw that a gigantic foaming roller had suddenly appeared on the hitherto calm sea surface and was advancing on the schooner from the south to north. Daville had barely time to grab onto the first ledge to come to hand, when the roller reached the ship in a few seconds, lifted it up in a single blow and set it down on its side, with a dangerous list, rapidly turned the ship onto its opposite side, made several more steep slopes and rushed on. The weather was calm, with a mild south-eastern breeze.
Reference #13893:
August 1892, first week, about 00:20 (LT) Espiritu Santo A very strong shock was felt at Luganville, Espiritu Santo Island. An eyewitness, Daville, who was sleeping on the top deck of a small schooner at Shark Bay on the east coast of Espiritu Santo, woke up and saw that a gigantic foaming roller had suddenly appeared on the hitherto calm sea surface and was advancing toward the schooner from south to north (Daville, 1894, in Soloviev and Go, 1974; and in Louat and Baldassari, 1989).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Espiritu Santo Island | Vanuatu | 0 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1892The 1800sTsunamis of VanuatuThe earthquakeAlerts 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 1198.