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Cascadia Historic Earthquake Catalog, 1793-1929
Covering Washington, Oregon and Southern British Columbia

Provided by: The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network
About the Cascadia Historic Earthquake Catalog       One-line catalog format

1793-1849 .... 1850s .... 1860s .... 1870s .... 1880s .... 1890s .... 1900s .... 1910s .... 1920s .... 1930s (not complete) .... Other Cascadia Catalogs

  
Individual Event Report
Event #33 - Summary, and parameter estimates with source IDs                                           
Diary entries only - additional references should be sought.
TIME LOCATION MAGNITUDE MAX. INTENSITY FELT AREA
YR MO DAY HR MIN AM/PM Time
Type
LAT(N) LON(W) DEP
(km)
MAG Mag
Type
Felt
Plc.
Felt
St.
Inten-
sity
Int.
Type
Felt
Area
Felt
Area
Int.
Felt
Area
Units
1855  11  29              Whidbey Island  WA           
DIARY - 1945 - - - DIARY - 1945 -

Underlying Source Material
Source ID Publication Pub Date Pub Details
1945  EBEY (Winfield S. family)  1855  Thurs, Nov. 29 & Sun, Dec. 2, 1855
Part 1/ Box 1 /Diary 3, UW manuscripts and archives, pg. 181 and pp. 184-5 
Transcription: page 181 Whidby's Island November 29th Thursday 1855
"Another awfull windy day Equally as bad as yesterday Hard wind from South with rain all The Sea (running?) feathery white. It would have been madness to attempt crossing over today In the forenoon walked over to my claim [?] afire went on pretty near the head of the cove to see if a better road could not be made than the one now traveld Remained in the house all the evening Unlike Yesterday the storm did not abate as evening came on; but it is yet blowing hard The prospect for crossing the very gloomy at present This evening about seven o clock a very singular noise was heard at two different times At first we thought the house was on fire and we all ran out in alarm But nothing was visible Maj. Sewell who is here thinks it a slight shock of Earthquake. I do not know"...[rest of sentence illegible]

page 184-5 Port Townsend December 2nd Sunday 1855
"Day cloudy with South wind The Bark (Anadin?) Sail'd this morning I went out on a visit to (Mr. or Mrs.?) Hasting's Passd the day pleasantly indeed Capt -------- of the Decatur (Lieut?) frances Mr. Howard, Mr Eldsedge & Mrs Webster & Miss Reed calld, also, a few moments, I also met a Mr. Vincent late from MO He is stopping at (Mr &'s) [?] Capt Mitchell of Bark "Ella Francis" came in It is seems that his vesel saild some two weeks since for San Francisco with with a cargo of lumber when off the mouth of the Columbia River she was struck by the tremendous gale we have experienced here for the last week The ship was in great jeopardy 2 or 3 men were swept overboard by the Sea & lost a good many others among whom were the Capt were severely wounded Such as broken limbs &c The vessel is considerably damaged Capt M------- says after a long life spent at sea he never saw such a Sea as he experienced this time ---- The vessel is laying near Point Ringgold & Capt Pease has furnished enough men to take her up to Port G------- where she goes for repairs My opinion is that (this?) unusual sea has been caused by a severe shock of earthquake which has sent the water with great force & volume against & [?] the western coast I may be in error but from the unusual rise of the tides in the Straits & Sound I think there must be a very unusual cause I shall probably [?] [?]" [rest of sentence (2 words) is illegible]
 


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