Earthquakes

The list we publish below records the earthquakes that have occurred in Madeira and of which we have been able to obtain information. Only one of them caused damage of any real significance, yet no memory of the event survives in local tradition:

1748. On 31 March of this year, between one and two o’clock in the morning, a strong earthquake was felt in Madeira, followed by two further shocks. An account of the event written at the time, and reproduced on page 697 of ‘Longing for the Homeland’ (Saudades da Terra), states that some trustworthy persons claimed to have seen ‘towards the east of the said island a great band of fire rise into the air, and that shortly afterwards they observed a great glow of the colour of that same fire, which lasted for the space of a quarter of an hour, and it was felt that the air was unusually warm’.

On 1 April, by order of the prelate, solemn prayers were held in Funchal Cathedral (Sé), attended by the cathedral chapter, the Senate (senado, the municipal council), the officials, the nobility and the people. Afterwards the image of St James, patron saint of the city, was carried in procession to the altar of the Blessed Sacrament in the same Cathedral. The prayers continued, with the Blessed Sacrament exposed, until 9 April, ‘and these rogations’, says the same account, ‘were also made by all the other Religious Communities and all the Collegiate Churches of the City; but the inhabitants of the towns, villages and countryside practised, besides these, other exercises, as Catholic as they were spiritual.’

Penitential processions were held in Funchal on the nights of 2, 5 and 6 April. The first, in which almost everyone went barefoot, was joined by the prelate, the Chapter, the Senate, the friars of the convent of São Francisco, from which the procession set out, and a great many people, all going ‘in their places, and with such praiseworthy devotion that they moved the most impenitent creatures’.

On 9 April the last prayers were held in the Cathedral, where, at the prelate’s request, Father José de Figueiredo of the Society of Jesus preached, and ‘his sermon had such an effect on the whole congregation that many who for years had not availed themselves of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, laying aside their faults and confessing their errors, began a new life.’

From 1 April to 26 May further earthquakes were felt in Madeira on various days, but none of them reached the violence of the shock of 31 March, which caused considerable damage in many parts of the island. The Cathedral was left with several cracks and its façade leaning outwards, and the church tower also suffered badly. The same earthquake also caused considerable damage to the churches of Santa Maria Maior do Calhau, Santo António, São Gonçalo, Camacha, Machico, Caniçal, Porto Moniz, Prazeres, Paul, Arco da Calheta, Canhas, Serra de Água, Câmara de Lobos and Estreito de Nossa Senhora da Graça. The house in which the bishop lived was left uninhabitable, and the buildings of the Customs House (Alfândega) and the Contos, despite their very strong walls, were left with thirty-two cracks, besides other more or less notable damage.

Despite the violence of the earthquakes of 31 March 1748, there were only four victims: an old man, father of the vicar of Santo António (‘St Anthony’), a child and two women. The material damage, however, was considerable: according to the account we referred to above, there was not a building that escaped damage, however strong its walls. 1755. On 1 November of this year there was an earthquake in Madeira. In Funchal the sea rose 5 metres above high tide, and on the north of the island it drew back about 100 metres, leaving a great quantity of fish stranded. On Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’) the sea surged up the bed of the stream of the town (vila) for about a quarter of a mile, and as the water drained away the channel of the Ilhéu de Cima (‘upper islet’) was left almost dry (on this subject see O Megasismo do 1.° de Novembro de 1755, by Francisco Luís Pereira de Sousa, volume I, page 108).

1762. On 26 June there was an earthquake in Funchal, which caused no damage. 1768. On 5 November of this year the island of Madeira experienced a violent earthquake, but the documents of the period do not say whether it caused damage.

1804. On 24 April of this year there were three shocks during the night, at intervals of 8 to 10 minutes, all of them violent.

1813 and 1814. Thomas Edward Bowdich alludes to earthquakes felt in Madeira in 1813 and 1814, but without stating the days on which they occurred.

1816. Bowdich refers to an earthquake felt on 11 January of this year, which opened cracks in some houses in Funchal. Many people who were in the streets were thrown against the walls when the shock struck.

The Anais de Machico record that in the early hours of 2 February of the same year, while the people were hearing Mass in the mother church (igreja matriz), an extraordinary earthquake was felt, lasting for some time. The congregation rushed out of the church in a stampede, but no one was endangered and there was no significant damage.

This shock was also felt in other parts of the island, and the fright was so great that prayers and public processions were held in several churches. We have read somewhere that the procession of Christ Carrying the Cross (Senhor dos Passos) at Estreito de Câmara de Lobos (‘the narrows of Câmara de Lobos’) was instituted on the occasion of the earthquake of 2 February 1816.

1842. The Anais do Porto Santo refer to a slight earthquake felt on that island on 24 October, but we have found no record that this shock was also noticed in Madeira.

1850. Dr Barrai, in the Noticia sobre o clima do Funchal, mentions an earthquake in the direction LW, felt at half past nine at night on 10 October, but which caused no damage whatsoever.

1883. On 23 July of this year, a strong earthquake was felt in Funchal at about two o'clock in the morning.

1884. On 13 February of this year, between 2 and 3 a.m., an earthquake accompanied by subterranean noise was felt in Funchal, and on 17 May, at about 3 a.m., there was a further, not very violent, shock.

On 22 December of the same year, at around 3 a.m., the inhabitants of Funchal felt two earth tremors. The first, the more violent, lasted about 20 seconds and the one that followed about 7 seconds. These shocks were also felt in Lisbon, at 3.29 a.m.

1886. On 21 January, at 8 a.m., a slight earth tremor lasting about 3 seconds was felt in Funchal. A woman from Água de Pena who was gathering limpets at the locality (sítio) of Queimada (‘burnt land’) fell into the sea at the moment of the shaking and died instantly.

1887. This year there were three earthquakes in Funchal: one on 7 January, at around half past ten at night, accompanied by subterranean noise; another on 27 January, at half past one in the morning; and the third on 6 August, at twenty past one in the morning.

1889. On 14 January of this year, at around half past five in the morning, a slight earthquake was felt in Funchal.

1910. On 24 November of this year, at around 9.20 p.m., an earthquake was felt in Funchal, accompanied by subterranean noise that seemed to come from the north-east. On the same day, two shocks were felt in Curral das Freiras (‘nuns’ fold’).

On the 26th of the same month there was another shock in Funchal, at 12.25 p.m. It lasted about 4 seconds and the movement seemed horizontal.

1914. At 4.45 a.m. on 27 December, a slight earthquake was felt in Funchal.

1918. The earthquake that occurred this year, at 4.23 a.m. on 25 July, was the most violent we have felt on this island. It was felt not only in Funchal but also at Monte (‘hill’), at Jardim da Serra (‘upland garden’) and in the north of the island, and it damaged the plasterwork of some houses in the parish (freguesia) of Ponta Delgada. There were two shocks in quick succession, each lasting two seconds, and at the time a loud subterranean noise was heard.

1920. On 8 December of this year, at a quarter to six in the morning, a slight earthquake was felt in Funchal, which went unnoticed by many people.

1923. At 5.06 p.m. on 1 October, a slight earthquake lasting only 2 seconds was felt in Funchal. This shock was also felt in the parish of São Vicente and probably in other parts of the island.