Amidst all the horror, the stories and pictures of the deadly December 2004 Tsunami, and its massive casualty toll in nine nations rimming the Indian Ocean, happenstance would have it that a similar event which occurred almost six centuries ago was recorded in Ireland, and brought to life in a dramatized account on this web site a few years ago.

The historical episode appears in the Annals of the Four Masters in the following extract:

"The Age of Christ, 1478. A great tempest arose on the night of Epiphany, which was a night of general destruction to all by reason of the number of persons and cattle destroyed, and the trees and houses, both on water and land, prostrated throughout Ireland."

Descriptions of a four-storey high wave wreaking havoc on the shores of Sumatra and Sri Lanka tally exactly with that given by the fictionalized twelve-year old Miles na gCapall in "The Hawk of the Erne".

Below to my right something came to my sight. The estuary waters-- they drained right out! Otters and seals flopped on dry land.

I tell you the bar was as dry as cork in an empty bottle! The sea retreated into the bay. To the edge of the universe, it seemed like to me.

Then a roar split the heavens. The ocean rose up and raced for the shore. The great bank of cloud sent flashes of lightning and pealings of thunder. And it, too, moved landward, gathering speed.

High above on Cnoc na gCapall, the Hill of the Horses, I saw it all, how the sea formed one wave, a massed mountain of water, and came crashing inshore.

Readers may access the full story in chapter 8 of "The Hawk of the Erne".

For a scientific discourse on the subject of tsunamis, readers may wish to access The Deadliest Tsunami in History, on the National Graphic web page.

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