1790 — Nov, Kilauea Volcano Eruption, Island of Hawai’i, HI                                  — >400

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard January 17, 2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

—          400-800  Swanson, et al. “Reconstructing the Lethal…1790 Eruption at Kilauea.” 2011.

—         over 400  Israel, Brett. “Kilauea volcano capable of…” NBC.com, 12-6-2011 update.

— estimated 400  Schmitt, Robert C.  Catastrophic Mortality in Hawaii. 2-2-2009, p. 69.

—         over 400  Wikipedia. “Keanakakoi eruption.” 12-31-2022 edit. Accessed 1-17-2024.[1]    

–>80-sev. hund. USGS.  “Explosive Eruptions at Kilauea Volcano, Hawai’i?” 10-14-2004 mod.

–>80-sev. hund. USGS. “Kilauea Volcano’s Deadly 1790 Eruption.” 12-30-2010

Narrative Information

Israel: “A band of ancient warriors were en route to battle near the summit of Mount Kilauea more than 200 years ago when Pele, the Hawaiian goddess that lives inside the volcano, got angry. Very angry.  Searing rocks exploded from Kilauea’s summit crater and a thick current of lava surged toward the warriors, propelled by hurricane-force winds. More than 400 people died, according to historical estimates, in the deadliest volcanic eruption in what is now the United States….” (Israel, Brett. “Kilauea volcano capable of deadly past and future blasts.” NBC.com, 12-6-2011 update.)

Schmitt: “In November, 1790, Keoua and his army, including the wives and children of the men, encamped at Kilauea while en route from Hilo to Kau. Soon they were pinned down by a great explosive eruption: ” . . . an immense volume of sand and cinders . . . came down in a destructive shower for many miles around,” completely incinerating the second of the three parties and killing an estimated 400 persons. The eruption soon led to even more tragic consequences: Whitman reported that “thousands of victims are said to have been sacrificed to appease the angry gods. . . “[2] This was the greatest natural disaster in Island history, and ranked second only to the Pearl Harbor attack among all Hawaiian catastrophes.” (Schmitt, Robert C.  Catastrophic Mortality in Hawaii. 2-2-2009, p. 69.)

Swanson, Weaver, Houghton. “Reconstructing…1790 Eruption at Kilauea.” 2011 abstract:

“The most lethal known eruption from a volcano in the United States took place in November 1790 at Kilauea, killing perhaps 400-800 people (estimates range widely) who were crossing the summit on their way to a distant battle site. The eruption culminated ca. 300 years of sporadic explosive activity after the formation of Kilauea Caldera in about 1500. No contemporary account exists of the 1790 activity, but an eruption plume was observed from Kawaihae, 100 km NW of Kilauea, that probably was 10 km or higher. We are attempting to piece together the lethal event from a study of the 1790 and enclosing deposits and by using published accounts, written several decades later, based on interviews with survivors or others with knowledge of the tragedy. Determining what deposits actually formed in November 1790 is crucial. The best tie to that date is a deposit of phreatomagmatic lithic lapilli and ash that occurs SE of the caldera and must have been advected by high-level (>~10 km) westerly winds rather than low-level NE trade winds. It is the only contender for deposits from the high column observed in 1790. Small lapilli from the high column fell onto, and sank deeply into, a 3-5-cm-thick accretionary lapilli layer that was wet and likely no more than a few hours old. The wet ash occurs south of the caldera, where the lithic lapilli fell into it, and is also found west of the caldera in the saddle between Kilauea and Mauna Loa, where the victims were probably walking along a main foot trail still visible today. A lithic pyroclastic surge swept across the saddle, locally scouring away the wet accretionary lapilli layer but generally leaving a deposit <1 to 15 cm thick on the ash and embedding 1-cm lithic lapilli deeply within it. This indicates that the surge also erupted in November 1790, while the underlying ash was still wet. Though scattered ballistic blocks later fell in the area, the surge left the youngest continuous deposit on the west flank of Kilauea. An account written in 1843 by Rev. Sheldon Dibble describes the dead victims as lying on the surface or “sitting upright clasping with dying grasp their wives and children,” not buried by ash or battered by falling debris, and “thoroughly scorched” but “in no place deeply burnt.” These gruesome details suggest that the surge engulfed the victims, some of whom were clasping one another to keep from being blown away. The surge deposit covers an area of 12-15 sq km on the western flank of Kilauea between the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) and the main highway around the island. The fatalities probably took place in this area, now visited daily by 5000 travelers to Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Several human footprints, barely discernible through the thin surge deposit, indent the surface of the accretionary lapilli ash near HVO. Do they record someone’s last footsteps? We do not yet know when the eruption started or how many units older than the accretionary lapilli ash were also erupted in 1790. But we think we have identified the lethal surge of the eruption, and it is sobering to realize that it overwhelmed the place where this abstract is being written 221 years later.

USGS: “The late 1780’s were years of great strife on the Island of Hawai’i. Kamehameha, who later became the first king of the Hawaiian Islands, was at war with his rival Keoua. After one of several indecisive battles, probably in 1790, the balance was suddenly tipped in favor of Kamehameha when a natural disaster struck. As a large group of Keoua’s warriors traveling with their families passed the crater of Kilauea Volcano, there was a sudden explosive eruption of searingly hot ash and gas. At least 80 and perhaps hundreds of people were killed in the deadliest historical eruption to occur in what is now the United States.”  (United States Geological Survey.  “Explosive Eruptions at Kilauea Volcano, Hawai’i?” 10-14-2004 modification.)

USGS: “Hawaii National Park, Hawaii – An explosive eruption that killed more than 80, and possibly several hundred, people on Kilauea Volcano’s slopes 220 years ago will be the topic of a presentation at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo on Friday, January 7….” (U.S. Geological Survey. “Kilauea Volcano’s Deadly 1790 Eruption.” 12-30-2010.)

Sources

Israel, Brett. “Kilauea volcano capable of deadly past and future blasts.” NBC.com, 12-6-2011 update. Accessed 9-21-2012 at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45572586/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/kilauea-volcano-capable-deadly-past-future-blasts/#.UF0MCK4mQqg

Schmitt, Robert C. Catastrophic Mortality in Hawaii. 2-2-2009, 86 pages. Accessed 9-20-2012 at: Catastrophic Mortality in Hawaii – eVols – University of Hawaii. Accessed at: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fevols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu%2Fbitstream%2Fhandle%2F10524%2F150%2FJL03074.pdf%3Fsequence%3D2&ei=UPSvVK2bLoO4yQTO74L4DA&usg=AFQjCNHER9A57xAr6d0m9mJcnsc4F2Z8Gg&bvm=bv.83339334,d.aWw

Swanson, D., S. J. Weaver and B. F. Houghton. “Reconstructing the Lethal Part of the 1790 Eruption at Kilauea.” American Geophysical Union (Fall Meeting 2011). December 2011.

United States Geological Survey. “Explosive Eruptions at Kilauea Volcano, Hawai’i?” 10-14-2004 mod. Accessed 9-21-2012 at: http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs132-98/

United States Geological Survey. “Kilauea Volcano’s Deadly 1790 Eruption.” 12-30-2010. Accessed 9-21-2012 at: http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2673

Wikipedia. “Keanakakoi eruption.” 12-31-2022 edit. Accessed 1-17-2024 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keanakakoi_eruption#cite_note-QH-2

[1] Cites: McPhie, Jocelyn, et al. “Phreatomagmatic and phreatic fall and surge deposits from explosions at Kilauea volcano, Hawaii, 1790 A.D.: Keanakakoi Ash Member.” Bulletin of Volcanology, Vol. 52, No. 5, 1990, p. 334.

[2] Sheldon Dibble, A History of the Sandwich Islands. Honolulu: Thomas G. Thrum, 1909, pp. 51-53; Ralph S. Kuykendall, The Hawaiian Kingdom 1778-1854. Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1938), p. 36; John B. Whitman, Account of the Sandwich Islands, 1813-1815 (manuscript, Peabody Museum, Salem)..