Mystery of monster waves solved

Electronic Telegraph ^ | January 6, 2002 | By Tony Paterson in Berlin

[BluH2o]

I always worried about the fast storm which changes the wind direction radically in 10-20 hours, leaving a set of (say) 30 foot waves crossing a set of 20' waves at about 90*, creating big crazy waves and super deep troughs with no warning.

This type of wave pattern occurs in the Gulf Stream frequently ... wave action formed when wind direction blows counter to the current in the Gulf Stream. Somewhat akin to standing chop.

[VOA]

BUMP

[CurlyDave]

Such seas are thought to have sunk more than 200 supertankers and container ships without trace during the past two decades.

Believable?

Does anyone know the total number of ships of these classes existing in the world today?

If 200 ships represents 10% of the total, I really doubt the statictic. If 200 represents 0.1% it gets to be sort of believable.

Ships sink all the time & don't really make the news unless they cause a major oil spill or some other event. The crew of most ships are mostly foreigners and are primarily loners of some sort to choose that life. I doubt the loss of a ship will all hands would be front page news, esp. since the exact time & date would not be known with any certainty. More like a disappearance.

[Dakmar]

[Soul Citizen]

Known as a wave train.

Sets form this way.

Small freak waves 10-15ft+ can result from subs out of nowhere, especially dangerous at night!

There may be some flaws about the size capability of wave heights due to collapse upon their own weight.

Exceeding 120 degrees is the angle necessary for a swell to create a breaking wave.

Many container ships are stacked so high above deck that heavy seas can easily make a cargo ship lose half the containers.

[Looking for Diogenes]

"On average about one container ship - somewhere in the world - sinks every two months killing dozens of people. Now a new inquiry into Britain's biggest vessel lost at sea could find the reason why. It's twenty years since the Derbyshire, with 44 people onboard, sank in the Pacific Ocean without even sending a distress call." Britain's Channel 4

[finnman69]

[Crowcreek]

"One of the few small-boat sailors to survive a monster wave was the British yachtsman, Brigadier Miles Smeeton, who did so twice. His 50ft ketch, Tzu Hang was dismasted twice by such waves while attempting to round Cape Horn in the 1950s - once after being "pitchpoled", toppled stern over bow. "

The Smeeton's sailboat was running in the center of the Atlantic with following seas of 60'-70', when the huge swells began to break and pitchpoled ('end-oed') the yacht. Mrs. Smeeton was at the tiller and would have been lost if Smeeton had not caught sight of her rain slicker in the water next to the boat when he came on deck.

This incredible story, and two others, can be found in a book called "Great Voyages In Small Boats". The breaking waves were attributed to 'shoal water' of 100' depth in the middle of the Atlantic.

[xm177e2]

Massive container ships also have very few people onboard, so a sinking is not as newsworthy.

[Kermit]

Ok, let's run the numbers. 200 supertankers or cargo ships are supposedly destroyed over a period of 20 years. That makes 10 ships a year or one about every 5 weeks. When a ship is in distress, that makes the news. When a ship is sunk, that makes even more news. Why haven't there been news reports about supertankers going down? The enviro-nazis would love to play this up. But we have silence.

[Justa]

A 120' wave + an 80' trough going in. Man, that's gotta suck.

[Looking for Diogenes]

Why haven't there been news reports about supertankers going down?

When something happens often enough it ceases to be news.

Listing of Oil Spills

[Drammach]

NUTS! I read about concoidal-rogue waves in Scientific American back in the 1970's.

Absolutely.
I remember reading a story about an american sailing vessel being hit by such a wave and sinking.
I believe there were some survivors among the crew, which was all young naval cadets in training.

[Don Myers]

bttt

[fish hawk]

The sea is a mysterious thing. Just recently my son-in-law and two friends were salmon fishing out of Bodega Bay in Calif. They were going out every week for awhile. On this one day a "freak wave" or "rogue wave" took them by surprise and flipped the boat. Only one man survived and my son-in-law was never found.

The one man that lived said it happened so fast he thought he tripped and fell overboard. When he looked around the boat was upside down. Lucky he was found alive. Another was found dead and my son-in-law was never seen again. My daughter is here on Maui now for the Holidays trying to cope with it all. Prayers are welcome.

[wasp69]

open ocean bump

[PA Engineer]

bump for a later read.

[1FreeAmerican]

Hey everyone- Ya'll forget the Edmund Fitzgerald? Let's see if I can-she was 900' long and went down in about 300' of water when a 150' wave came up her stern. This left only 150' to the bottom and when she was lifted by the wave , she "pearled"(a surfing term?),her bow hit the bottom and she split in two. Probably only took about 15 or 20 seconds. And this happened on which Great Lake?