Posted on 04/17/2005 4:50:14 AM PDT by Rebelbase
A "freak wave" more than 70 feet high slammed a luxury cruise ship steaming for New York yesterday, flooding cabins, injuring passengers and forcing the liner to stop for emergency repairs.
The Norwegian Dawn, an opulent ocean liner almost 1,000 feet long, limped into Charleston, S.C., yesterday afternoon after it hit vicious seas in an overnight storm off Florida - then was creamed by the rogue wave after dawn.
"[My room] was destroyed by stuff getting thrown all over the place," passenger James Fraley, of Keansburg, N.J., told NBC News before embarking on the 12-hour drive home because he didn't want to set foot on the ship again.
"It was pure chaos."
The ship, which sailed from New York last Sunday with 2,500 passengers, had been due back today.
It weathered most of a wild storm that featured gale-force winds and choppy seas. But then the vessel, longer than three football fields, was suddenly smacked by the "freak wave," said Norwegian Cruise Line spokeswoman Susan Robison. It broke a pair of windows and flooded 62 cabins, she said.
"The sea had actually calmed down when the wave seemed to come out of thin air at daybreak," Robison said. "Our captain, who has 20 years on the job, said he never saw anything like it."
The tidal wave wrecked windows on the ninth and 10th floors and wreaked havoc below decks, destroying furniture, the onboard theater, and a store that sold expensive gifts.
It also injured four passengers and terrified scores more, many of whom lost belongings and were being flown back to New York early this morning.
"My daughter said people were freaking out," said Mel Blanck, 74, whose daughter, Caren Hogan, 42, of Matawan, N.J., was vacationing aboard with her family. "She said some doors were ripped off and broken glass was everywhere."
In a message Hogan left on her parents' voice mail, she said her ship "feels like the Titanic" and described "water running everywhere, with people getting hurt and panicking."
"She felt lucky that she and her children weren't hurt," said Blanck, whose daughter had called from South Carolina last night. "She's calm now, but she said it was a nightmare."
The floating city of a ship, which was commissioned in 2002, left New York a week ago for Orlando, Miami and the Bahamas. It had started heading home when it ran into the wicked weather.
During the storm, one frightened passenger called a relative who relayed the information to the Coast Guard, which escorted the ship into Charleston yesterday.
"The ocean is unforgiving; it doesn't care who is out there," said Petty Officer Bobby Nash of the Coast Guard in Florida. "This could have happened to anyone."
Repairs were done last night, and the ship resumed it's voyage around midnight after a team of Coast Guard inspectors gave it approval.
Many of the Norwegian Dawn's passengers remained on the ship while it was readied for the sea again, Robison said. The battered vessel is expected to return to New York tomorrow.
All passengers would be given a partial refund, a credit for a future trip and access to the ship's open bar, Robison said.
When they show the calm blue oceans on TV advertising vacations, etc, I still can't look at the ocean the same way as I did before this last Tsunami. I still get chills.
It was a gorgeous day when it happened. People on the beach just stood there, not realizing what was going to happen. My heart bleeds for all of them.
The heaviest recorded survived roll of a ship was a US Navy destroyer in that typhoon.
When I was up in the North Atlantic in 1976 aboard the USS JFK as attached squadron personnel, I remember seeing one of our escorts, the bow was taking green water, then you could see the screws come out of the water, and the whole time, the ship was rolling and yawing. The water was so whipped up that the surface was white and frothy.
Nobody was allowed on deck, all the planes had 24 point tiedowns. Me and two of my buddies wanted to see what it looked like at the bow, so we went out in the catwalk (keeping our heads down so they couldn't see us from the bridge)
We watched the big, bulbous bow of the carrier come ponderously up out of the water, and TONS and TONS of water cascaded off of it...it was stunningly unbelievable! Then the ship paused, and that bow went back into the water...the only thing I can compare it to is that picture of the North Sea lighthouse with the wave crashing around it....
It looked like the whole bow of the carrier was going to submerge the way the bow entered the water and kept going...the three off us nearly killed each other leaving footprints on each others backs trying to get through the hatch!
Needless to say, we weren't in any danger. No way the bow was even close to going under, but it sure didn't look that way to us. Without a doubt, that was the most vivid memory I have of all the time I spent at sea.
I know. It looked like a normal wave on a beautiful day with blue skies, sunshine and then a KILLER heading right towards them. I understand completely. Just looking at the videos and the photos was enough to send chills down one's spine.
I should have known that. We saw the Perfect Storm and the photo DID look familiar. Thanks.
With those conditions, large waves are generated. They are not "freak" waves. They are not "tidal" waves. They are a special wave type found under those conditions.
The same things happen off the east coast of Africa. There they sometimes sink an oil tanker.
I was watching the Discovery Channel last week. I bet these are earths warning signs that the Yellowstone super volcano is about to erupt.
Or or or or That a giant massive asteroid the size of Texas (or Hillarys butt) is on a collision course with earth, and that our government isn't telling us, but has key scientists, politicians and rich people locked in Cheyenne Mountain. But the huge asteroid is affecting our gravity and wreaking havoc on our tidal forces.
I do know one thing for sure though.......
ITS ALL BUSHES FAULT
PS: This is SERIES and HUGH
Ahh, Thanks, I was wondering, when someone would post that. :)
This one did,
"A fact not known to many is the highest wave ever recorded struck in Trinidad on December 31, 1913. Lighthouse keeper, Fred Harrington, was performing his duties in the lighthouse perched 196 feet above sea level during a ferocious winter storm. As he turned to wipe the lantern room windows, he observed "a sea of unusual height". In his words, " The sea itself fell onto the top of the bluff and struck the tower on a level with the balcony, making a terrible jar." The spray flew forty feet above the crest. The lens was thrown off level by the wave but the plucky Mr. Harrington had the light back in operation in a half an hour."
"There's been a low pressure S.E. of Hatteras for a couple of days now."
So the ship captain, thinking they can defy God laws of nature, sails right through the storm.
We were one click away from being on this cruise 3 weeks ago. Only because of fraudulent web advertising did we not go. They promoted a price for 3 in a cabin and since our family is 5 we wanted 2 cabins. But phone contacts told us only 5% of the cabins will hold three people and the website allows 3 people in 100% of the quotes. Needless to say we didn't book.
We also found that prices for departure leaving Sunday, April 17th was almost twice as expensive as the returning week. AND WAS SOLD OUT. It doesn't surprise me that Norwegian had one goal in mind and that was keeping a timetable at the expense of safety. Ship was supposed to dock Sunday at 10 AM and leave with a sold out shipload at 4 PM the same day. Sold out at premium prices.
If they had sailed around the extreme low pressure or delayed the return a day, they would have all sorts of $$$ to return to the upcoming week customers. But now, they have 5000 customers on the tail for refunds instead of 2,500. Smart move Norwegian.
The Queen Elizabeth was hit by a rogue wave over 80 ft high while on a high speed crossing during WWII. All the glass in the Pilot House was shattered and she was rolled within 2 degrees of the point of no return.
If she had been rolled at over 30 knots she would have driven under instantly and the loss would be a total mystery.
So9
My father served on the Pickaway during the Korean War. :-)
Mickey Mouse must have bought some ad time.
Ping to self for later reading.
So what are they complaining about?
Bush's fault for not signing Kyoto.
Like you, I fear the ocean more since the Tsunamis.
And I always took it seriously.
While searching around on this subject after reading this thread I found this:
The largest wave in recorded history, witnessed in Alaska in 1958, was caused by the collapse of a towering cliff at Letuya Bay. The resulting wave was higher than any skyscraper on Earth and gouged out soil and trees to a height of 500 metres (1,640) feet) above sea level.
This article also claims a big volcano landslide could send a giant wave across the Atlantic.
This info is not on "rogue" waves, but to those in the path of huge waves the cause is probably not a concern.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/sci/tech/956280.stm
Cool pictures here.
http://tv-antenna.com/heavy-seas/
Don't act suspicious!
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