Qualla: 1867 Virgin Islands Earthquake and Tsunami

1867 Virgin Islands Earthquake and Tsunami: Introduction

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The people of the Danish West Indies had barely begun to recover. The San Narciso Hurricane had torn through the islands on October 29, 1867, leaving shattered buildings and displaced families across St. Thomas, St. Croix, and the surrounding islands. Twenty days later, at 2:45 in the afternoon on November 18, the earth itself turned against them. A magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck in the Anegada Passage, roughly 20 kilometers southwest of St. Thomas. It came as two shocks, ten minutes apart, and each was followed by a wall of water. The tsunamis that hit the Lesser Antilles that day produced some of the highest wave heights ever recorded in the region. For communities already on their knees, there was no margin left.

1867 Virgin Islands Earthquake and Tsunami: Two Shocks, Two Waves

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The earthquake arrived in a pair. The first shock rolled through the islands, and ten minutes later the second followed. Each produced its own tsunami, arriving roughly ten minutes after the shaking. In Frederiksted, on the western coast of St. Croix, the ground shook for a full ...

1867 Virgin Islands Earthquake and Tsunami: The Water Rose

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The tsunamis struck with devastating force across a wide arc of islands. At Christiansted on St. Croix, the waves drowned five people and pushed water far inland, destroying 20 houses and stranding boats well away from shore. Frederiksted was hit by surging seawater that beached ...

1867 Virgin Islands Earthquake and Tsunami: An Aftershock That Killed a Crew

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The disaster did not end in November. On March 17, 1868 -- four months later -- an aftershock with a magnitude of 6.5 struck, accompanied by its own tsunami. The La Plata, a steamship serving the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, was swamped by the wave. Nearly the entire crew per...

1867 Virgin Islands Earthquake and Tsunami: Fault Lines Beneath Paradise

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Modern geologists have traced the earthquake to the Reid Fault, located south of St. Thomas on the northern scarp of the Anegada Trough. The fault runs for roughly 70 kilometers and may have ruptured with slip of up to 10 meters. The rupture likely began at a shallow depth of abo...