March 9, 1895 Tsunami: S. California, United States

1895, March 9 and 30. "A strange seismic disturbance is reported from Costa Harbor, San Miguel Island. The land forming the high bluffs back of the boathouse is said to have sunk sixty feet perpendicular, forcing the beach and rocks strewn along it for a length of 1,800 feet some 30 feet upward and some 600 feet outward into the harbor. The change occurred on the 9th of March and the ground is reported to be still moving" (Los Angeles Sunday Times, March 17, 1895, p. 15, vol. 4). Joy (1968) describes events on these dates giving the dates as March 8, 10, and 30 as "A highly questionable series of events. A small schooner was wrecked while in the harbor on San Miguel Island, possibly a landslide triggered by an earthquake."

Townley and Allen (1939) cite an article in a newspaper of March 17 but did not identify it. They think the story was worked up by a newspaper reported into a very sensational story. There was no mention of the events in the Santa Barbara Free Press of March 10 to 12 or March 31 to April 1. The Santa Barbara Daily Independent, the apparent source of these reports, could not be located for March.

The Daily Independent for April 2 states, "News must be very scarce in Santa Barbara when the correspondents of outside papers have to resort to fakes, pure and simple, to make their daily budget..."

Costa Harbor can not be located. The only harbor on the island is Cuyler's Harbor and has been known as that since 1852. The initial Los Angeles Sunday Times report seems like a very detailed description of a large coastal land slide of a rotational type, pushing its toe upward and outwards...The description of the noise, the visible and sensible effects of the shock on the vessel and the "disturbed" water would be consistent for alarge subaerial landslide into the water with or without a triggering earthquake if the vessel were near shore. It could be a belated report of the event of March 9 or a continuation of the landsliding at a later date.

A landslide into the ocean could generate a local tsunami if it had occurred rapidly as the "noise" would suggest. However, there is nothing in these descriptions to suggest a wave beyond the "disturbance" of the water. Validity 2.

above from reference #237.

1895, March 8/10 or 30. A small schooner, riding in the harbor at San Miguel Island, was damaged by a slide caused by an earthquake. Neither the earthquake nor the tsunami was noticed on the continental coast (Reference #415).