May 10, 1894 Tsunami: Off West Coast, Mexico

Reference #11704

The crew and passengers of the steamer St. Paul, which arrived from her trip to the upper part of Mexico yesterday, were the witnesses of a remarkable marine disturbance which occurred on the afternoon of Thursday, the 10th inst. The St. Paul had left Guaymas the day previous for Mazatlan and had arrived opposite San Ignacio Island, which is situated on the Mexican coast in about latitude 25 degrees and not far from the entrance of the Gulf of California. About 2 o'clock in the afternoon the man at the wheel noticed an unwonted agitation of the ocean and called to the captain, who quickly discovered that some miles ahead of the ship the sea seemed to have arisen from its bed and was approaching the St. Paul with the speed of a railroad train.

The captain had sailed too long in these waters not to know a tidal wave when he saw one and immediately called every man on deck and gave orders to hastily make everything as secure as possible. All the passengers were ordered below and the cabin doors locked. The tidal wave rapidly approached the steamer, whose engines were being driven at their fullest power, and when the gigantic wave struck the St. Paul the gallant little steamer emerged on top, the only damage being a loss of some loose articles which were lying unsecured upon the deck. The wave, according to Engineer Houston, was fully twenty feet in height. It passed at a speed too rapid 10 compute and vanished in the horizon about fifteen minutes after striking the St. Paul.

At Mazatlan the effect of the wave was noticed, but no damage was done. At La Paz, on the lower peninsula, the tide at the time was extraordinarily high, and some boats lying upon the beach were swept out to sea. No convulsion was noticed by anyone upon the St. Paul, and it is thought probable that the tidal wave was caused by some marine earthquake a long distance away.