FanStory.com - Lituya Bayby T B Botts

I was corresponding with one of my friends on Fan Story and mentioned the earthquake that triggered a megatsunami in Lituya Bay on the outside coast of Southeast Alaska. I know I've mentioned it before, but I find it fascinating and thought I would share it in a little more detail.

Lituya Bay, located in the Gulf of Alaska on the coast of Southeast Alaska, was first discovered in 1786 by the French explorer Jean-Francois de Galaup La Pe'rouse. At least that's what the books say. Of course the Tlingit Indians that lived on the coast knew all about it, but as is often the case, the credit for discovery goes to the European explorers.

Lituya was scoured out by glaciers and has a depth of 733 feet. However, the entrance is only 33 feet deep. As a result, the tidal currents that come ripping through the small opening cause dangerous conditions, as the whole Gulf of Alaska is trying to enter the bay.

I've spoken to several different fishermen who said that you can only enter the bay at the start of the flood tide, and you have to line up the markers that are at the entrance to find your way in. They all said emphatically to never, ever try to enter on the ebb tide. When the Gulf is stormy, the closest place to offer safe anchorage is Lituya, and I'm sure the desire is to get out of the rough water of the ocean, but failing to wait for the tide can be fatal.

La Pe'rouse lost three boats and twenty-one men when he sent them to complete the charting of the bay. They got caught in the tidal currents at a place called La Chusse Spit. In French, La Chusse means The Chopper. Their bodies were never found and a marker with their names was put on Centotaph Island.

On July 9 at 10:15 PM, a magnitude 7.9 strike slip earthquake on the Fairweather Fault struck a few miles from Lituya Bay. The force caused a rockslide that dropped some 40 million cubic yards of rock- 90 million tons, some two thousand feet down the mountain into Lituya Bay. It triggered what is known as a megatsunami. The resulting wave wiped out trees up to 1720 feet above the tideline. The impact was heard fifty miles away.

There were three boats anchored in the bay at the time. The crew of one boat was killed, I'm not sure if they ever even found the boat. Howard Urlich and his 7 year-old son were on the F/V Edrie; the other boat, run by Bill and Vivian Swanson, might have been the Sunmore. How they managed to survive the waves that came down through the bay, God alone knows.

The perimeter around the bay has been stripped clear of all trees up to seven hundred feet. I spoke to one of the fishermen from Hoonah, Jake White on the F/V Mermaid. He mentioned fishing on the outside coast miles from Lituya several weeks after the earthquake, and having to navigate around countless trees floating in the ocean, a real challenge for even the seasoned fisherman.

I've often heard of the beauty of Lituya Bay and wish that I could have traveled up the coast to see it. As it is, I'll have to settle for photographs and read various accounts of the place. Some years back I read a very descriptive account by an Alaskan author, Lynn Schooler. He was a charter boat captain and naturalist and his knowledge of flora and fauna is exceptional. In his second book, Walking Home, A Traveler in the Alaskan Wilderness, he describes his experiences hiking in the bay and along the coast; what he discovered, and being stalked by a brown bear. Because my interest was rekindled, I've ordered a copy today from Amazon. I'd love to share it with you, but I probably won't. You'll have to get your own copy if you're interested.