[Kay]

How does a seven-story single wave occur without an earthquake? Hard for me to fathom.

[Lichgod]

Seven story wave. History Channel did an episode I saw on mysteries of the ocean. One part was on these rogue waves. Apparently, they do occur but often ships are completely lost that get hit with them.

Very detailed episode including replicating the scenario with model ships in wave tanks done at some university lab. They showed something like a rogue wave able to sink a ship in mere seconds.

I also saw something even more fascinating involving lighter than air gas released from the ocean bottom. How this changes the buoyancy of the water and makes ships sink as they are now heavier than the water can support. Also thought to impact aircraft flying over the same area. They set up a controlled test and found it possible to sink a boat but the amount of released gas needed was tremendous except for a big bubble.

Overall, it kept my interest when I not really too interested with anything involving the sea.

[Snickersnee]

Let's say you have a big storm off to the NNE generating a pattern of waves -- say 30' high -- and another storm off to the SSE generating another pattern of waves 40' high -- eventually, a thirty-footer is gonna climb on the back of a forty-footer, and voila, a seventy-foot wave. Very temporary effect, but spectacular while it lasts. On the way to Vietnam on my troopship we got hit abeam by one of those and we heeled over almost horizontal, all 600 feet of us. Terrifying, esp. at night.

[Elsie]

Hard for me to fathom.

Groan!

[pepsionice]

This is on the borderline of the Bermuda Triangle...could we assume that this is how numeous other ships went down...and this one (because of its design)...didn't? Something has to occur for this size of wave to occur...and if no earthquake is reported...which we would assume they'd monitor this sort of thing...then would else should we start looking for?