Journal of Coastal Research

27

931941

West Palm Beach, Florida

September 2011

The North Sea Tsunami of June 5, 1858

Jurgen Newig{ and Dieter Kelletat{*
{ Universitat Kiel Germany newig@geographie.uni-kiel.de { Universitat Duisburg-Essen Germany dieter.kelletat@t-online.de

www.cerf-jcr.org

ABSTRACT
NEWIG, J. and KELLETAT, D., 2011. The North Sea tsunami of June 5, 1858. Journal of Coastal Research, 27(5), 931 941. West Palm Beach (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Tsunamis are rarely generated along passive continental margins and infrequently found in shallow shelf seas. However, a thorough study of old reports, newspapers, and other sources provided useful hints that a tsunami occurred in the North Sea Basin on June 5, 1858, with run-up values of up to 6 m along the W coast of Denmark. Reports by official authorities and eyewitnesses, mostly published directly after the event, refer to all the phenomena known from ancient and modern tsunamis: single waves approaching with a loud noise, wave groups separated by longer time spans, extremely long wave crests, withdrawal of the sea in front of the first wave, extraordinary wave/run-up heights during calm weather and sea, and much more. The arrival time of the first wave in an area from the southern English Channel to the W coast of Denmark hints at a tsunami source in the wider Biscay region or south of it, the tsunami waves travelling around the British Isles and entering the North Sea both from the NW, around Scotland, and from the SW, through the English Channel and Straits of Dover. Many wave events in the North Sea region are well known, but nothing similar has happened in the last 150 years or long before 1858, so there is no doubt that this extraordinary event was a tsunami and not another type of wave phenomenon.

www.JCRonline.org

ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS:

Tsunami, North Sea, dating.

INTRODUCTION
Up to approximately 20 years ago there was general agreement among coastal scientists and geophysicists that tsunamis can occur along oceans with tectonically active margins, such as around the Pacific, but that passive continental margins such as those along the Atlantic Ocean are much less or even extremely rarely affected by these events. Palaeotsunami research during the last two decades, however, has shown that tsunamis can affect nearly all coastlines of the world, albeit at different intensities and frequencies. Tsunami sources are mostly tectonic movements on the ocean floor or beneath it, accounting for more than 70% of all tsunamis (earthquakes of ,7.2 on the Richter scale at a depth of ,30 km have risk levels of ,7080% for significant tsunamis). Slides on steep submarine slopes account for approximately 20% of tsunamis and the rest can be attributed to rock falls and collapse or explosion of volcanic edifices; cosmic impacts in the oceans are the rarest events (Murty, 1977; de Lange, 2003). Shallow seas and wide shelf areas, apart from active volcanoes and tectonic boundaries, seem to be less affected. This may be true in general, but it does not exclude the possibility of tsunamis of significant energy in these areas. To determine a realistic risk for a tsunami hit on the coastline, the time lines for modern tide gauge measurements and continuous observations are much too short and only palaeotsunami research for timescales of millennia, at
DOI: 10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-10-00098.1 received 25 June 2010; accepted in revision 1 November 2010. * Corresponding author. Coastal Education & Research Foundation 2011

least around 6000 years ago, can provide adequate answers. Because of this problem, most tsunamis are still unidentified. It is reasonable to expect that densely populated countries with a good infrastructure and communication systems would have established a complete catalogue of tsunami events for the last few centuries. However, we show here that this is not the case and that a detailed analysis of eyewitness reports, newspaper articles, and the memory of local people can lead to improved information on tsunamis in the North Sea area only ,150 years ago, notably for the event of June 5, 1858. The aim of this paper is to interprete the various observations of June 5, 1858 as descriptions of a tsunami. Some authors have not yet been taken into account in modern publications. Furthermore we show that the different observations refer to one single event. Finally we point out the intensity of the phenomenon, in particular at the Danish W coast.

REPORTS AND DOCUMENTS

The 1858 North Sea event occurred more than 150 years ago. Most reports on natural events of that time are based not on measurements but on estimations. Only newspaper correspondents or well-educated people who were present were able and willing to compile eyewitness reports or summarise their own observations. Thus, discrepancies from one report to another can occur, and consequently we consider only the most detailed and factual accounts of the event, placing special emphasis on eyewitness reports. It is important to note that the 1858 event was easy to observe because of excellent weather conditions on the continent, with a quiet sea and a high summer temperature.

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Table 1.

Estimated wave/run-up heights for the locations in Figure 2. The table contains all names mentioned and numbered from 1 to 15.

No. of place in Figure 2

Localization

Run-up*

Main Source

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Entrance Limfjord (Agger) Ringkbing Blavands Huk Sylt Helgoland Wangerooge Katwijk Calais Margate Ramsgate Dover Folkestone English Channel Boulogne-sur-Mer

1.20 m in 10 min 6.0 m 4.04.5 m (E) 3.54.0 m (E)

3.03.6 m; later: 1.201.50 m 1.501.80 m

2.40 m 2.40 m, 1.50 m

15

Le Havre

Thisted Amtstidende 1858, in: Danish Meteorological Institute, 2005 Rambusch, 1900; Steenstrup, 1871 Boll, 1858, 1863 Hansen, 1870; Fack, 1858 Staats- und Gelehrte Zeitung des Hamburgischen unpartheyischen Correspondenten, 1858 Weserzeitung, 1858b Clement, 1858, Boll, 1863 ` Moniteur de Calais et de St-Pierre, 1858, in: Ministere pour LEcologie, lEnergie, du Developpement durable et de la Mer, 2009 NGDC, 2009a Martin, 1858/1859; Boll, 1863, Weserzeitung, 1858a Boll, 1863 ` NGDC, 2009a; Impartial de Boulogne-sur-Mer, 1858, in Ministere pour LEcologie, lEnergie, du Developpement durable et de la Mer, 2009 Edmonds, 1862; Clement, 1858; NGDC 2009a Impartial de Boulogne-sur-Mer, 1858 b Colonne et LObservateur (Boulogne ` sur-Mer), 1858, in: Ministere pour LEcologie, lEnergie, du Developpement durable et de la Mer, 2009.; Illustrated London News, 1858; NGDC, 2009a ` Moniteur de Calais et de St-Pierre,1858, in: Ministere pour LEcologie, lEnergie, du Developpement durable et de la Mer, 2009; Perrey, 1862

* Relative rise from ambient water level. (E) 5 estimation of the authors.

The Hamburger Correspondent (Staats- und Gelehrte Zeitung, 1858) reported on June 7, 1858 that on June 5 at noon the weather was fine, with a temperature of 25uC and a light wind from the SE, conditions that would lead to only very small waves in the North Sea. The event was registered at several places, particularly intense in Argab (see Figure 1). Some of them have only been mentioned since the AndamanSumatra tsunami of 2004. These accounts have been evaluated, and we have used wherever possibleoriginal sources for our interpretation. Table 1 shows locations where observations were made (including main sources) and Figure 2 the geographical context of the places and the time of entrance of run-ups.

In the area of Ringkbing, a little bit S of Husby, there was an extraordinarily strong thunderstorm in the evening (Ringkjbing Avis, June 10, 1858, in: Steenstrup, 1871, p. 17).

2b. Argab
The most impressive report comes from Argab, a fishing village at Holmsland Klit, which is a narrow barrier in the Ringkbing Fjord in Denmark. Rambusch (1900, pp. 186187) cited an eyewitness report of the fisherman Enevold Nielsen from Argab in a footnote. The fishermen had tied up their boat on the beach and were on the way home when they heard a loud noise from the sea at approximately 1600: Vi lb da til Stranden, men kunde nppe tro vore egne jne, da vi mdte Havet i Klitten, og vor Baad samt en anden Baad til, sad oppe i Klitten, sknt vi havde lagt den til Ankers i Havstokken. Vandet maa vre steget c. 209. De 3 store Ser var komne, da vi naaede Havet; vi saa 6 mindre Ser, 3 ad Gangen; de brd c. 1000 Alen fra Land og var saa lange i Syd og Nord, at vi ingen Ende kunde se paa dem.

1. Agger, Limfjord Mouth

The Thisted Amtstidende (1858; Danish Meteorological Institute, 2005) reported that the water rose for10 minutes, reaching about 1.20 m at Agger at the mouth of Limfjord in the N of Jutland Peninsula of Denmark. Unfortunately, no maximum height was mentioned. Although there was a complete calm, a heavy sea rose with a thunderstorm. (Thisted Avis, June 12, 1858, in: Steenstrup, 1871, p. 19).

2. Ringkbing 2a. Husby (Husby Klit)

Pastor estergaard, Husby, reports that in calm weather at 1600 to 1700 three waves approached; the first was the largest, the next smaller, and the third the smallest. (Steenstrup, 1871, p. 18). The waves followed each other at close distances. On land at the same time the waves arrived (ved den samme Tid, da Blgen kom) some strong wind gusts occured blowing the blossoms of apple trees which fell down like snow flakes (Steenstrup, 1871, p. 19).

Figure 1. The 1-km-wide spit of Holmsland Klit at the moment at which a crew of fishermen approximately 0.5 km from the shoreline saw the cornfields. A moment later the boats anchored on the beach were lifted onto the dune crest. The crew of a boat 3 miles offshore recognized nothing different about these waves.

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Figure 2. Map of the locations for reports of the tsunami of June 5, 1858. Times represent wave movement from the English Channel from south to north into the German Bight. There it merged with the Scotland wave, moving from north to south.

De kom af V. N. V.; senere paa Dagen var Vejret smukt. 2 andre Baade fra Klitten var ude samme Dag; den ene var 3 Mil fra Land, og havde intet mrket til Serne; Mandskabet mente, at Serne havde vret for brede paa Ryggen til at de kunde mrke dem. Den anden Baad var kun 1/4 MiI fra Land; den blev lftet saa hjt, at Mandskabet over Klitten kunde se Kornmarkerne bagved. Det nederste af Tangen overskylledes fuldstndig, og Serne slog op over Stormasten paa de Fartjer, som laa ved Nyminde.

[We rushed to the beach but could not believe what we saw with our own eyes: the sea stood in the dunes, and our boat and another one was set upon the dunes, although we just had fixed it down on the beach. The water had risen for about 20 feet. Three large waves came when we reached the sea. We saw six smaller ones in two sections of three: they broke about 1000 cubits in front of the shoreline and were so long in a SN direction that we could not see their ends. They arrived from WNW; in the course of the day the weather became fine. Two more

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boats were out the same day, one 3 miles from the shoreline, but they did not notice any waves. The crew thought that the wave crest was too broad to recognise it. The second boat was closer to the beach, about J of a mile. It was lifted up so that the crew could see the cornfields behind the dune belt. The lowest part of the spit (Tangen) was totally inundated, and the sea smashed over the high masts of the ships in Nyminde harbour.] This observation by fisherman Nielsen is depicted schematically in Figure 1, showing the moment at which the crew saw the cornfields behind the dune belt of the Holmland Klit barrier. Fishermen in the boat 3 miles offshore recognised nothing of the tsunami; a mile here is a nautical mile (1.852 km) and the maximum of wave crest was observed a quarter of a mile (1000 cubits or 0.5 km) seaward just before breaking. Although the numbers mentioned are just estimates, it is likely that they are accurate because fishermen have great experience of processes occurring along the coast. Much important information can be gleaned from their short text. First, the highest wave along the entire coast was observed here and dislodged two boats onto on the dune crest, which is at a height of 57 m above sea level. This fits the estimated wave height of 20 feet very well. Waves approached from WNW and broke approximately 1000 cubits from the beach. Other fishermen, who were 3 miles out to sea (nearly 6 km), observed no significant waves. However, a second boat only a quarter of a mile from the beach was lifted high enough to see fields along the Ringkobing Fjord behind the dunes. This phenomenon had never been observed before. On the basis of all these facts, a wave height of the order of 20 ft. or ,6 m can be taken as reliable.

tremendous speed. Two of the same size followed in a timely distance of 10 minutes, and after several minutes a fourth and smaller one followed (Steenstrup, 1871, p. 21).Over the waves there was a wind blowing tornado forces, undoubtedly deriving from the extreme wave velocity. (Ovenpaa Blgen bruste Vinden med en Kraft som en Hvirvelvind, hvilket udentvivl hidrrte fra den lynsnare Fart, hvormed Blgen bevgede sig fremad.) The water nearly reached to the top of the dunes (Steenstrup, 1871, p. 21). Time was ca. 1800 h (p. 15).

4b. Westerland
A Westerland monograph by chronicler C. P. Hansen (1870, p. 185) contains an account by sailor Henning Rinken, who reported on the sudden appearance of three waves on June 5, 1858 during nice weather without waves. The first arrived at 1700 with terrible sound on the beach and was so strong that the water reached into the Glaaten, which are the dune valleys behind the first narrow seaward dune belt. From this observation a rise in water level of 3.54 m can be calculated. The second wave was reported at 2100 h and a third at 2130 h. Beach vogt H.W. Decker reported that the boat of two fishermen was hit against the dunes. They were in danger of life. The first runup was accompanied by two similar ones hnliche Begleiter) and was unbelievably high (un(zwei a ermeliche Hohe). Together with the runup there came a whirlwind (Fack, 1858, pp. 4748).

5. Helgoland
For Helgoland Island on June 5, 1858, three waves were reported, the first at the same time as in Westerland (1700) and the second at 2030, but the third was much later, as on Sylt Island, at 0200 next day. The second wave comprised three wave crests. It is mentioned that the events took place during the finest warm weather without wind, but in spite of these weather conditions the water around Helgoland seemed to boil. The first wave nearly drowned women on the beach who were cleaning fish and swamped them up to their upper arms. Two boats (Schaluppen, sailing boats) were lifted so high on land that they could only be brought to the water the next day (Staats- und Gelehrte Zeitung, June 12, 1858).

3. Blavands Huk
vands Huk and Sylt the In the neighbouring areas of Bla wave run-up was several meters. For Blavands Huk it was reported that unexpectedly waves as high as houses rose and rushed to the beach, where they ran up to the dunes as in a storm flood (Boll, 1858, p. 184), even though it was low tide at the time. Low water along this southern coast of western Jutland is normally ,0.6 m below the reference point and the dunes start at ,3 m above mean sea level. Since the waves rose for at least another meter up the dunes, a run-up of approximately 4.55 m can be calculated for these locations. It is reported that fish in large numbers have been thrown ashore. Many of them bit in the Elymus plants on the dunes in their fear of death (in: Steenstrup, 1871, p. 16).

6. Wangerooge
The Weser-Zeitung (1858b) contained a report from the island of Wangerooge that describes the extraordinary processes in vivid pictures: On Saturday, 5 June in the afternoon, 1 hour before high tide, from the west a noise like thunder could be heard and near the village a black to blue strip of water could be seen. Two terrible waves of 1012 ft. rushed so quickly onto the beach that workmen, planting foredunes near the church tower could hardly escape. A similar event was repeated the same day at 9 pm and again at 9.30 pm, and the water rose to 45 ft. The oldest inhabitants of the island said that they never had experienced such an event during their lifetime, and never heard about a similar one from their ancestors. Ein groes Gluck von

4. Sylt 4a. List Deep

A crew member of a Danish customs control vessel from List (Sylt island) reported that on June 5 there was no wind but a nice warm day. Suddenly they saw a strange performance: it looked as if sky and water have were united to a giant wall (Steenstrup, 1871, p. 20). (Det saae ud som om Himmel og Hav paa eengang forendede sig til en uhyre Vg). The waves were high like a tower (taarnhi Blge) and moved forward with

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Gott ist es, dass man den am Strande spielenden Kindern gleich hat zu Hulfe kommen konnen, sonst waren sie unfehlbar verloren gewesen; einige sind beinahe fur todt [wohl soviel wie: leblos, halbtot] fortgetragen. Der Wind war sudlich und flau und ein schones Wetter. (original text in German from the Weser-Zeitung, 1858b, similar in: Meyer, 1858). It is interesting that the times given for Wangerooge are nearly the same as for Sylt Island. The first wave in Wangerooge was a double-crested wave. The report of a black to blue colour for the water is similar to some observations for the AndamanSumatra 2004 tsunami. People were in great danger, but no fatalities occurred. In the first report by Boll (1858, p. 184) we also read: It was great luck from God that children playing on the beach were rescued immediately, otherwise they would have been lost for sure. It is remarkable that the three locations in the German Bight registered the arrival of the first wave at 1700, but a time difference of several hours for the next waves.

June, created considerable sensation on this coast. He also observed strange weather conditions. The vertical rise in his opinion corresponded to a lateral propulsion. With this conclusion he pointed to a wave propagating to the beach, because this lateral propulsion [was] so rapid that the shrimpers [gatherer of shrimps, normally standing with nets in their hands in the water up to their knees] in Pegwell Bay had a narrow escape for their lives! Thus, it is obvious that the fishermen (or women, because shrimp-fishing was often a task assigned to the women) were in danger. He gives an exact time: it was at this time, 8:45 a.m., that the undulations of the tidal column commenced. He also distinctly recognised [a] tremor of the earth.[obviously caused by the pressure of the waves] Hail fell for a short time . The Weser-Zeitung (1858a) reported for Ramsgate that the sea receded during the thunderstorm on Saturday (June 5) suddenly for 200 yards and only reached its earlier height 20 minutes later. Similar observations are available from Le Havre.

7. Katwijk
Katwijk is with regard to time an important link between Jutland (Denmark) and the eastern Atlantic. Clement (1858, p. 123) reported in a scientific note that the tsunami arrived here after 12 h (probably approx. 1230).

11. Dover
See Margate paragraph.

12. Folkestone
See Margate paragraph.

8. Calais
In Calais the impact was in three consecutive waves (Moniteur de Calais et de St. Pierre, 1858), arriving with the beginning of low tide and disturbing the fishermens boats. At the same time a strong thunderstorm occurred (Impartial de Boulogne-sur-Mer, 1858) and the water rose by at least 1.5 m (le ` vent selevant en meme temps se mit a tourbillionner aux quatre points cardinaux avec une vitesse et une violence inusitees). For Calais the newspaper Le Moniteur Universel (1858), the official voice of the Empire Francais, reported blue skies and a calm sea at 0830. After that the sky darkened and a type of tornado appeared. The sea rose by 1.5 m within only 8 minutes, damaging ships in the harbour caused by mutual movements. The explanation came from England by telegraph: in the English Channel three raz de maree (tsunami) were observed. The fisherwomen of Courgain fortunately were not on the beach to catch crabs, otherwise they would have been caught by the flood (Moniteur de Calais et de St. Pierre, 1858).

13. Dover Straights/English Channel

Edmonds wrote for the English Channel: the sea on the French and English coasts first retiring suddenly and then returning with great violence to a much higher level. (Edmonds, 1862, p. 109). Clement reported on the enigmatic tidal phenomenon of the three oceanic earthquake waves in the North Sea on June 5th, 1858: Three consecutive waves from the Atlantic Ocean approximately from WSW brought unexpected high seas independent from low or high tides (Clement, 1858, p. 123). NGDC mentions in the list of tsunamis for June 5, 1858, a tsunami in the Dover Straits, England, with a maximum of water level of 2.4 m. The code for the reason is 0, which means: The source of the tsunami is unknown. The number of (runups) is given with two (NGDC, 2009a). Perrey (1862, p.29) says in his comprehensive book on earthquakes in different years of the 19th century of three giant waves (trois vagues enormes) coming from the Atlantic Ocean by a submarine earthquake independent of tides. Mostly he follows Clement (1958).

9. Margate
Accurate details for wave heights in Margate, Dover, and Folkestone are missing. But if we compare the situation with Boulogne in France (Edmonds, 1862), we can conclude that a wave height of 2.4 m was likely along the English SE coast.

14. Boulogne-sur-Mer
An extended report from Boulogne-sur-Mer (Perrey, 1864) was published in the Colonne et lObservateur of June 6, 1858 ` (available as a scan by Ministere pour LEcologie, lEnergie, du veloppement durable et de la Mer, 2009): De ` Le 5,8 h. du matin, a Boulogne-sur-Mer maree extraordi ` ` naire, que jai deja signalee a cette date pour divers points de la mer du Nord. Voici un extrait dune lettre de Boulogne: ` Un phenomene extraordinaire, considere comme volcani-

10. Ramsgate
From Ramsgate we have a report from the harbourmaster (Martin, 18581859). He presumed that the event was known generally: As the undulation of the tidal column, on the 5th of

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` que, sest manifeste ici, le 5, a 8 h. du matin. La maree qui se ` ` retirait, est tombee tout a coup et a laisse le port a sec, puis en cinq minutes, elle est revenue avec unde grande force et sest elevee de huit pieds plus haut. Elle etait accompagnee ` dun veritable tornado et le ciel setait tout a fait obscurei. Le tout na pas dure plus de dix minutes, mais ce quil y a ` detrange, cest quimmediatement apres, le soleil a brille de tout son eclat comme il brillait avant. P.S. Les passagers ` arrives par le vapeur de Folkstone , a 5 K du soir, ` rappportent quun phenomene semblable a ete observe sur divers points de la cote dAngleterre. This article was translated into English by the Illustrated London News on June 12, 1858, p. 575 (NGDC, 2009a, NOAA reference no. #3946). Extraordinary Phenomenon at Boulogne. A letter from Boulogne-sur-Mer on Saturday says: An extraordinary phenomenon, considered volcanic, occurred here this morning at 8 oclock. The tide which was receding, suddenly fell and left the harbour dry, but returned in five minutes with great force eight feet higher, accompanied with a perfect tornado of wind, and the sky densely obscured. The whole did not last more than ten minutes, but what was most strange was that there existed the brightest sunshine immediately before and after. P.S. The passengers of the Folkestone boat, who have just come in (half-past five p.m.), report that a similar occurrence took place there and at other places on the English coast at the same time as here. (NGDC 2009a and Edmonds, 1862, p. 109). This article contains one of the most important hints that the wave events can be classified as a tsunami: recession of the sea in front of very strong waves. The local newspaper, Impartial de Boulogne-sur-Mer, mentions three waves. The time is given by the newspaper as 2030, and 2 hours later another wave occurred (Impartial de Boulogne-sur-Mer, 1858). Then a group of crab fisherwomen were surprised by the high wave and nearly drowned.
Figure 3. Epicentre (star) and isotachs of the Lisbon tsunami of November 1, 1755. At the 13-h isotach in the North Sea, the NW (Scotland) and SW (Channel) waves merged (NGDC 2009).

CONSEQUENCES
The 1858 tsunami had a distribution pattern according to the references in Figure 2, showing that its source was in the Atlantic. As wave heights in the English Channel are lower than in the open North Sea, the epicentre could not have been in the channel itself, as concluded by the NGDC (2009a), but south of the channel entrance. This is evidence that the waves arrived from the SW and originated in the Biscay area or even farther S in the region of the epicentre of the 1755 earthquake around the Gorringe Bank. Therefore, it would be good to check the research results for the Lisbon event of 1755. For this we have a very good reconstruction of the isotachs, as shown in Figure 3 (NGDC, 2009b). The tsunami waves flowed into the North Sea from the NW, around Scotland, and from the SW, through the English Channel. The flow from the SW was significantly damped by the narrow channel and the shallow water, whereas the open Atlantic wave crossed deep water at higher velocity. After 13 hours the isotachs merged near the mouth of the River Elbe and after 14 hours reached the river itself. This model is useful for understanding the processes of the 1858 event.

15. Le Havre
Le Havre is the southernmost location for which a tsunami report exists (at 0830 according to Clement, 1858). This source also mentions the times for Helgoland and northern Frisia, as well as the Danish W coast, so that we findsimilar to the Boll sourcethat the wave phenomena were on a wider scale than only regional. An important observation is that the wave phenomena were totally independent from any tide movements. According to Le Moniteur Universel (Paris), the storm rose in Le Havre at 0630 (as in London) and grew to tremendous force. The wind came from all sides and pushed up dust so that visibility was reduced to only a few meters, suggesting the presence of a real tornado. During this storm, in Le Havre the strange phenomenon was observed that within less than 7 minutes the water withdrew for 53 cm. Before this the sea was calm, the skies were blue, and the temperature was 21uC (Moniteur Universel, 1858).

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Interference between the Scotland and Channel waves at the Jutland coast of Denmark may explain the highest run-ups in this region. In contrast to the model for 1755, the hypothetical meeting of the isotach seems to be 200 km further N, which means a slightly later arrival of the Scotland wave. However, these differences can also be explained by tidal differences between the times of tsunami wave movement in 1755 and 1858 and meteorological conditions and do not necessarily require identification of another source area for the earthquake. As there was no wind in Germany and Denmark during June 5, 1858, the direction of the wave approach is interesting, but we have only a few details for this. In Jutland it was noted that the wave came from WNW (the direction of the Scotland wave), whereas at Sylt it came from SW (the Channel wave) and at Boulogne it came from WSW. This is supported by Clement (1858, p. 123), who explicitly mentions three waves from WSW and the Atlantic Ocean. Some meteorological features were combined with the tsunami waves: the Colonne et lObservateur (1858) reported a veritable tornado near Boulogne-sur-Mer on June 6, as in Calais and Le Havre, but this might also have been due to the warm summer weather and the impact of cold air. On this day there were extremely strong thunderstorms in England, as reported by the harbour master of Ramsgate (Martin, 18581859). Rain like a deluge and many flash floods caused travel chaos. Many roofs between Leeds in the north and the south coast were destroyed. London was seriously affected, in particular between 0600 and 0700 (Moniteur Universel, 1858). The Illustrated London News of June 12 1858 under the headline of Meteorological Observations at the Cambridge Observatory, for the week ending June 9, 1858 reported a very heavy storm on the morning of June 5, between 6 and 8 a.m.The flashes of lightning were exceedingly vivid and frequent.Since June 6 the weather has been fine. It is interesting to analyse what authors from the mid19th century thought about the type of waves mentioned. All clearly state that the weather in Germany was fine and the sea was calm. For singular high waves under these conditions, Germans use the term Seebar (which means sea bear and is thought to be caused by seismic events; Ackermann, 1883, p. 221; Boll, 1863). French sources use the term raz-de-maree and Danish sources spank so, which means Spanish sea or Spanish wave, perhaps in remembrance of the Lisbon event of 1755 or even earlier. Rambusch (1900, p. 186) called it pludselig Stigning af Vandspejlet, which means a sudden rise in sea level. Other contemporary authors concluded that the source was seismic, such as Perrey (1864), who called it tremblement sous-marin, which means an underwater earthquake. For the Sylt Island area, Hansen (1870, p.138) raised the possibility of an earthquake at sea and Clement (1858) described three oceanic earthquake waves in the North Sea on June 5, 1858. The newspaper Hamburgische Correspondent (Staats- und Gelehrte Zeitung, 1858) used these words: whether this event was connected to any earthquake is only known to God. Boll is the only author who tried to combine all the available reports, registering the early events at Le Havre, Calais, etc. with respect to more northerly locations. His conclusion is:

The large area which exhibited the phenomena enforces the conclusion of a strong submarine earthquake, which centre point, however, is totally unknown to us (1863, p. 121). For an event of this category we would normally expect several fatalities. Indeed, it was repeatedly mentioned that people hardly escaped from the waves. Tourism was less developed at the time and the season only started in July, so those affected were crab and lobster fishermen and -women working with their nets and people working on coastal protection projects. In Helgoland many would have been drowned if the water had not receded so quickly (Staats- und Gelehrte Zeitung, 1858). In Wangerooge, work on the dunes was endangered (Boll, 1863). In Boulogne about 30 fisherwo` men on the beach were in extreme danger (Ministere pour LEcologie, lEnergie, du Developpement durable et de la Mer, 2009). In Calais, by chance, no one was bathing and there were no crab fisherwomen on the beach, otherwise the sudden rise in water would have pulled them out to the sea (Moniteur de Calais et de St. Pierre, 1858). It is interesting that in Denmark a scientific discussion on the event of June 5, 1858 already began in the 19th century, but was lost later. The renowned Danish universal scientist I. Steenstrup concluded in 1871 that an earthquake was the source of the waves. This was rejected by seismologist E. G. Harboe in the year 1915. He argued that climatic factors, like a cyclonic storm, were the cause. [Authors remark: Tornado-like winds were indeed reported by eyewitnesses from List Deep, Husby region and Boulogne-sur-Mer during run-up times of the waves]. Maybe a local limited low pressure system may have sucked a lot of water from the English Channel and pushed it to the Jutland coast. (lokalt Barometerminimum maa have suget Vandet ud fra Kanalen mellem Frankrig og England). This would be congruent with the thunderstorm events in Ringkbing, Husby and Agger (Harboe, 1915, p. 413). Regarding modern interpretation of the event of 1858, the conclusions of the Danish Meteorological Institute are the most developed: Der synes saledes ikke at vre tvivl om at Nordsen ved denne lejlighed er blevet ramt af en tsunami med regional udbredelse. Strrelsen kan det pa det foreliggende grundlag vre vanskeligt at bedmme, men ovenstaende beretning anfrer altsa et opskyl ved Holmslands Klit pa i strrelsesorden 20 fod (6 m). (Danish Meteorological Institute, 2005, p. 35) [There evidently is no doubt that the North Sea has been hit (in 1858) by a tsunami with a regional extension. Its size is difficult to calculate, but the report from Holmsland Klit (spit at Ringkobing Fjord) proves a run-up of the order of 20 ft. (6 m)]. In their final evaluation, the Danish authorities predict a weaker tsunami risk for Denmark, but they conclude that on a warm summer day with many tourists at the beach there may be many fatalities (p. 38).

DISCUSSION
Since 2004, tsunami research has greatly improved. For the North Sea tsunami of 1858, we owe most of the informa ` tion to the French Ministere pour LEcologie, lEnergie, du Developpement durable et de la Mer (2009), the American NGDC as a part of NOAA, and the Danish Meteorological Institute.

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(2) A wave retreat before the first high run-up clearly points to the 1858 event as a tsunami. In the North Sea, however, we have no such information. The reason may be the more complicated situation, with the meeting of waves from two different direction and friction and shoaling processes in shallow water and along complex coastlines. In the North Sea region, in particular in Helgoland, Sylt, Westerland, and Wangerooge, time differences of several hours between three wave impacts were observed. The reason again may be that the Scotland and Channel waves met here, whereas in the English Channel the waves followed each other in minutes. (3) Waves were clearly highest along the mid-Jutland coast of Denmark, decreasing slightly to the south. Waves in the North Sea were definitely higher than 3 m and clearly lower than 3 m in the English Channel. (4) Historical sources principally point to wave approach from south to north into the inner part of the German Bight, as modelled for the Lisbon 1755 wave by NOAA. Farther north the approach times are shorter, pointing here to dominance by the Scotland wave (arriving before the Channel wave). (5) The event of 1858 was significant and was repeatedly described by eyewitnesses as extraordinary. We believe, however, that the 1755 Lisbon event was of the same order of magnitude in this area, although there are much fewer reports. This can be explained by less development and distribution of reports by newspapers, as well as by much less tourism at the seashore. We know, however, that the Lisbon earthquake expressed itsself as shakes and water movements in the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, and inland lakes of the Mecklenburg area of NE Germany, as reported extensively by Boll (1863, pp. 96 ff.). (6) These conclusions regarding a tsunami in the North Sea in June 1858 shed new light on reports on one of the most devastating floods on the North Frisian coastline of Germany in 1634, called the second Great Mandranke (which means great drowning of people). For a long time a tsunami as a cause was believed to be fictional, since it was argued that the North Sea had not experienced tsunamis. However, a witness from that time, Anton Heimreich, mentioned this with caution: he described a significant drying of the Baltic Sea between the cities of Flensburg and Warnemunde and reported that the water rose and retreated extremely quickly on October 11, 1634. In translation he wrote, it is not unbelievable that the horrible storm wind was combined with an earthquake (Heimreich, 1668, new print Tondern, 1819, pp. 137138). M. Lobedanz told as an eyewitness that on the isle of Nordstrand a great additional rise of the water was at 0200, which should have been low tide that day (Hinrichs, 1985, p. 86). P. Sax reported that on October 11, 1634, at Helgoland at 1300 a large water mass assembled in a kind of military order (arranged in Bataglia) before the combined force of the waters attacked northern Frisia, where flood levels reached 4.26 m (Sax in: Muller and Fischer, 1936, pp. 102103).

Figure 4. Time sequence for waves according to reports of the event (see sources in Table 1). It is significant that a three-crested wave normally occurs first. In the English Channel at Boulogne-sur-Mer, water retreat was observed before the first wave hit. For Calais and Folkestone, a sudden retreat was reported by Boll (1858, p.184), without noting the exact time. For the North Sea, no water retreat was observed. It is important that three wave impacts were distributed over many hours for the North Sea, whereas in the channel at Boulogne only one repeat was reported after 2 h.

The French Ministry for the Environment came to the following conclusions regarding the event of June 5, 1858. The tsunami was identified as number 620002 and as reliable, status C, which means that reports should be checked. Maximum wave heights are given as 2 m and places of observation are harbours along the Manche coastline, Normandy, and Calais, including hints to English sites in Kent. In the section for reasons the event is assigned as unknown. According to the US NGDC (2009a) there were two places of origin: Boulogne-sur-Mer in France and Folkestone in England, both with validity 2 (questionable tsunami) on a scale up to 4 (definite tsunami). The distance to the source area is given as 31 and 34 km, respectively, which is the eastern region of the channel. The cause code of the tsunami is assigned as 0, which means that the source (e.g., earthquake, landslide, etc.) is unknown. Even the authors of this paper cannot rule out another, such as meteorological, cause. The French authorities and the U.S. NGDC only consider the Atlantic and assign the phenomenon as a local event in the environment of the English Channel, whereas the Danish authorities assign it to the North Sea region. From all the material checked and available so far, we draw the following conclusions: (1) In the English Channel, for Boulogne-sur-Mer, Perrey (1864) explicitly mentioned a withdrawal of the sea before the first wave hit. Boll (1858, p. 184) writes of a sudden retreat of the sea in Ramsgate and Le Havre but does not mention whether this was before the first wave (Figure 4). In Ramsgate the retreat of the sea was 200 yards (Weser-Zeitung, 1858a).

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(7) Taking all this evidence into account, a tsunami in the North Sea has to be rated a rare event. From independent historical reports it can be concludedeven considering some uncertainties in the descriptionsthat the modelled maximum height of a North Sea tsunami (see below) may well be significantly exceeded in reality by several meters. Reports by Bork et al. (2007) and Lehfeldt et al. (2007) exclude tsunamis in the North Sea but allow a maximum runup of 1.5 m in models, concluding that this would not be dangerous for people or infrastructure. For a tsunami wave height of 6 m at the northern entrance of the North Sea, Lehfeldt et al. (2007) calculated a reduction to approximately 1 m in the inner part of the German Bight. From these models the authors conclude that the shape and bathymetry of the North Sea and German Bight afford good protection against tsunami waves. There is no doubt that reflexion, diffraction, refraction, shoaling, and the variable bottom and coastal topography, among other parameters, as also mentioned by Bork et al. (2007), have a significant influence on tsunami wave propagation in this area. Both reports conclude that the North Sea, and in particular the inner German Bight, are protected against this type of extreme event by the British Isles and Norway and by shallow water. These conclusions are called into doubt by events during the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004: the western coastline of Thailand has shallow water with an isobath of 100 m at least 80 km from the coast and a 10-m isobath sometimes more than 10 km out. Nevertheless, this region has been crossed by several large tsunami waves with run-ups of up to 12 m. The models of Lehfeldt et al. (2007) and Bork et al. (2007) do not consider a tsunami sending waves through the Straits of Dover and around northern Scotland. As demonstrated here by information from many sources with good eyewitness documentation and reliable data on impact times and run-up heights for up to 15 and more points, it is likely that the 1858 tsunami passed through the Straits of Dover and arrived at the northern entrance to the North Sea, producing the highest run-up at coastal sections where both waves may have met, as along the W coast of Denmark. Among all the possible tsunami sources for the shallow North Sea, we can exclude a cosmic impact for 1858 (because this would have been widely noticed), a local earthquake, rock falls along the coastlines (because these are too low), and submarine slides (because of the very shallow water and very slight submarine relief). As waves occurred at least from southern England to central Denmark over a distance of ,900 km, we have to conclude that the tsunami originated at a great distance. If the source was the steep submarine slope in the Bay of Biscay, the distance was at least 1400 km, and from the Gorringe Bank the distance is more than 2600 km. According to E. G. Harboe meteorologic effects may have played a role as well. In the natural hazard catalogues of the NGDC at Boulder, Colorado (NGDC, 2009a), a tsunami is mentioned for June 5, 1858, with a run-up of 2.4 m at Boulogne and registered without any height at Folkestone in southern England. The earthquake catalogues do not show an event in the area of the Bay of Biscay or south of here to the Gorringe Bank. The only significant earthquake in 1858 in the area occurred on November 11. The

Gorringe Bank SW of Cabo de Sao Vicente in Portugal is the most dangerous spot for tsunami generation in Europe because of an active transform fault along the plate boundary between Europe and Africa. It was here that one of the strongest earthquakes in human history occurred on November 1, 1755, with the destruction of Lisbon by the earthquake, fires, and a strong tsunami and a total of ,60,000 fatalities. The wave propagation model for a tsunami from the Biscay/ Gorringe area is consistent with all reports and measurements mentioned for the 1858 event. Besides the well-investigated tsunami of AD 1755 and that of 1858 newly described here, there was at least one other during the last 500 years, investigated by Bryant and Haslett for 1607 in the Bristol Channel (Bryant and Haslett, 2007; Haslett and Bryant, 2007a,b, 2008). Possible evidence of more tsunamis in western Europe has been provided by mapping and dating of coarse coastal deposits, boulder ridges, and boulder clusters at high altitudes along the coastlines of western Europe and in particular along western Ireland and the northern Scottish islands (Andrade, Borges, and Freitas, 2006; Fichaut and Suanez, 2008; Kelletat and Scheffers, 2004; Paris, Carrecedo, and Torrado, 2005; Ruiz et al., 2005, 2008; Scheffers and Kelletat, 2009; Scheffers et al., 2009, 2010Williams and Hall, 2004). The best-investigated tsunami in the wider North Sea region is the Storegga event triggered by a huge submarine slide off the coast of western Norway in the first half of the Holocene (see documentation and discussions, e.g., in Smith et al., 2004). It was dated around 8000 before present (BP) (Smith et al., 2004: 7900 cal BP; Weninger et al., 2008: 8110 6 100 BP with sigma 2 or p 5 95% of confidence level). In the history of the drowning of the Dogger Bank during the postglacial transgression with extinction of living space for man on this former island, Weninger et al. (2008) found that the Storegga event took place during a sea level of 217 m 6 2 m, but in Norway or along the E coast of Scotland deposits can be found above present sea level, and we can assume that the run-up was higher than the related deposits preserved. It is hard to calculate how far to the south this tsunami may have impacted the former coastlines of the inner North Sea, which at that time was significantly shallower than today, but on the basis of the experience from the 2004 megatsunami along the west coast of Thailand it is evident that a strong tsunami may easily pass a wide shallow shelf with significant power. A (possible) future slide even of smaller extension will certainly have a high tsunami risk for all North Sea coastlines.

CONCLUSIONS
From an analysis of historical reports and sources, it can be concluded that models for the North Sea after the 2004 event and their risk evaluation are not congruent with possible natural processes. The event of 1858 was well known to specialists, but has been interpreted up to now as a regional feature. Danish researchers concluded that it was a North Sea event, whereas American and French colleagues postulated that it was an English Channel event. According to the present study, a connection between these regions should be drawn (Figure 2). Only this interpretation explains all the aspects in the reports.

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The information above indicates that tsunami events in the North Sea (as for many other shorelines of Europe) have not been adequately investigated. This paper is a first step, and much work is required, in particular an analysis of cores available with respect to tsunami signatures. Also the meteorological observations in our sources require further investigation. An open question is the remarkable wave pattern in the North Sea, most probably because of interference between the Scotland and Channel waves. Since reports and signatures of a tsunami event could be found for the 19th century (and some more for earlier centuries), it is highly likely that the North Sea area was hit by many more tsunami waves from the north (such as Storegga) and the south (such as Biscay/Gorringe) than has so far been accepted. The North Sea shorelines are densely populated with a high degree of infrastructure (harbours, oil platforms, etc.) and are also visited by millions of tourists during the summer months (when the 1858 tsunami occurred), so the real tsunami risk for this area is much higher than previously accepted. Owing to nonstorm summer wave heights of 6 m on the North Sea coast, the tsunami risk for the Atlantic and North Sea coasts should be re-evaluated. This also means considering warning systems that go far beyond what has been planned up to now.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Prof. Dr. Martin Rheinheimer, Syddansk University of Esbjerg, Prof. Dr. Joachim Paul, Flensburg, and Harald Wolbersen, Dansk Centralbibliotek for Sydslesvig for support concerning Danish texts and Prof. Dr. Karl-Ernst Behre for additional information about Wangerooge.

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