World’s Biggest Tsunami | 1720 feet tall – Lituya Bay, Alaska

Eyewitness Accounts from Survivors

(As reported by Don J. Miller in United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 354-C, Giant Waves in Lituya Bay, Alaska, 1960)

Account of Howard G. Ulrich

Mr. Ulrich and his 7-year-old son, on the Edrie,
entered Lituya Bay about 8:00 p.m. and anchored in
about 5 fathoms of water in a small cove on the south
shore. Ulrich was awakened by the violent
rocking of the boat, noted the time, and went on deck
to watch the effects of the earthquake – described as
violent shaking and heaving, followed by avalanching in
the mountains at the head of the bay. An estimated
2 1/2 minutes after the earthquake was first felt a deafening
crash was heard at the head of the bay. According
to Ulrich,

“The wave definitely started in Gilbert Inlet, just before the
end of the quake. It was not a wave at first. It was like an
explosion, or a glacier sluff. The wave came out of the lower
part, and looked like the smallest part of the whole thing. The
wave did not go up 1,800 feet, the water splashed there.”

Ulrich continued to watch the progress of the wave
until it reached his boat about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes after it
was first sighted. Being unable to get the anchor loose,
he let out all of the chain (about 40 fathoms) and
started the engine. Midway between the head of the
bay and Cenotaph Island the wave appeared to be a
straight wall of water possibly 100 feet high, extending
from shore to shore. The wave was breaking as it came
around the north side of the island, but on the south
side it had a smooth, even crest. As it approached the
Edrie the wave front appeared very steep, and 50 to
75 feet high. No lowering or other disturbance of the
water around the boat, other than vibration due to the
earthquake, was noticed before the wave arrived. The
anchor chain snapped as the boat rose with the wave.
The boat was carried toward and probably over the
south shore, and then, in the backwash, toward the
center of the bay. The wave crest seemed to be only 25
to 50 feet wide, and the back slope less steep than the
front.

After the giant wave passed the water surface
returned to about normal level, but was very turbulent,
with much sloshing back and forth from shore to shore
and with steep, sharp waves up to 20 feet high. These
waves, however, did not show any definite movement
either toward the head or the mouth of the bay. After
25 to 30 minutes the bay became calm, although floating
logs covered the water near the shores and were
moving out toward the center and the entrance. After
the first giant wave passed Ulrich managed to keep the
boat under control, and went out the entrance at 11:00
p.m. on what seemed to be a normal ebb flow.

Account of William A. Swanson

Mr. and Mrs. Swanson on the Badger entered Lituya
Bay about 9:00 p.m., first going in as far as Cenotaph
Island and then returning to Anchorage Cove on the
north shore near the entrance, to anchor in about 4
fathoms of water. Mr.
Swanson was wakened by violent vibration of the boat,
and noted the time on the clock in the pilot house. A
little more than a minute after the shaking was first
felt, but probably before the end of the earthquake,
Swanson looked toward the head of the bay, past the
north end of Cenotaph Island and saw what he thought
to be the Lituya Glacier, which had “risen in the air
and moved forward so it was in sight. * * * It seemed
to be solid, but was jumping and shaking * * * Big
cakes of ice were falling off the face of it and down into
the water.” After a little while “the glacier dropped
back out of sight and there was a big wall of water
going over the point” (the spur southwest of Gilbert
Inlet). Swanson next noticed the wave climb up on
the south shore near Mudslide Creek. As the wave
passed Cenotaph Island it seemed to be about 50 feet
high near the center of the bay and to slope up toward
the sides. It passed the island about 2 1/2 minutes after
it was first sighted, and reached the Badger about 1 1/2
minutes later. No lowering or other disturbance of
the water around the boat was noticed before the wave
arrived.

The Badger, still at anchor, was lifted up by the wave
and carried across La Chaussee Spit, riding stern first
just below the crest of the wave, like a surfboard.
Swanson looked down on the trees growing on the spit,
and believes that he was about 2 boat lengths (more
than 80 feet) above their tops. The wave crest broke
just outside the spit and the boat hit bottom and foundered
some distance from the shore. Looking back 3 to 4
minutes after the boat hit bottom Swanson saw water
pouring over the spit, carrying logs and other debris.
He does not know whether this was a continuation
of the wave that carried the boat over the spit or a
second wave. Mr. and Mrs. Swanson abandoned their
boat in a small skiff, and were picked up by another
fishing boat about 2 hours later.