August 29, 1916 Tsunami: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Reference #13179:

Official revised records of a U.S. Navy Court of Inquiry concluded that the 29 August 1916 destruction of the armored cruiser USS Memphis anchored off Santo Domingo (Ciudad Trujillo) harbor of the Dominican Republic, Island of Hispaniola, was probably caused by a “tropical disturbance”, a “seismic storm”, or a “tsunami”. However, the present analysis of this naval disaster documents that the loss of the ship was not due to any of these causes, but to rogue waves of a meteotsunami generated from a rapid, significant and progressive drop in atmospheric pressure which begun in the area around August 22 and was associated with a passing hurricane which at its closest point was about 250 nautical miles to the south [...] analysis is based on careful examination of the ship’s log, and on observations of events by the crew and people on the shore [...] The study concludes that it was this significant meteotsunami wave, with augmentation by storm-generated swells that engulfed the USS Memphis at 1640 hour in the afternoon of 29 August 1916 - breaking the chains of its anchors and wrecking it on the rocks of Santo Domingo.

Forty-three people lost their lives that fateful afternoon. Twenty-five crewmembers died when the ship's motor launch capsized in huge breakers at about 14:00, as it was attempting to return to the ship. Another eight members of the crew were lost when three boats sent to sea sank or were wrecked attempting to reach shore after dark. Ten more died either by being washed overboard or from burns and steam inhalation when the ship's boilers exploded. The total casualties, numbered 43 dead and 204 injured.