This Wave Happens Once in 10 000 years. Scientists Have Finally Captured it

Until the late nineteenth century, approximately one ship was mysteriously lost at sea each and every day. Back then, pirates, mythical krakens, or even Poseidon could be blamed for ships' disappearance. With the development of shipping and the introduction of new technologies, that number has decreased, but even up to twenty oh five, at least two ships per week continued to suffer sudden wrecks, taking many lives to the bottom of the ocean. Who or what is responsible for those crimes? It all comes down to killers. Namely, killer waves. To this day, scientists have no idea how to anticipate them, much less how to escape them. In this video, you’ll get wind of: how do waves play life-or-death chess with ships? Why do thirty-meter breakers exist contrary to the mathematicians’ calculations? And above all, what’s the secret of the killer wave’s perfect crimes?

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[mbudimaloba]

I am a meteorologist/oceanographer for the Navy... rogue waves are not as much of a mystery as this video portrays; none the less, it is good info and displays how our understanding has progressed over time.

[googlewolly]

It's pretty badass that people way back - despite believing in literal giant krakens and Poseidon - would venture out to sea in their small (when compared to what we have today) ships.

[billlawrence]

In 2006 I took a cruise on the QE-2. The crew talked about a wave she encountered once in her career. 30 meters high and smashed the hell out of everything. Crew members who were on board has a special emblem, like a badge of honor.

[Mystikan]

Way back in 1974 when I was a kid I emigrated from England to Australia with my parents. We sailed on a ship called the SS Britanis, and because there was a conflict in the Middle East at the time the Suez Canal was closed, so we had to go the long way - around the Cape of South Africa.

I will never forget that stretch of the voyage. Where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian is a death zone. The captain warned everyone not to go outside onto the promenade or upper decks and all the hatches were locked down while we were sailing around the Cape. The cabin stewards also came around to check we had secured all loose objects.

I remember looking out the porthole in our cabin and seeing waves the height of a block of flats that would rise in front of the ship, tilting us sternward by a good 30 degrees, then the porthole would be underwater for several seconds while the ship broke through the wave, then the ship would suddenly tilt bowwards by the same amount down the back of the wave. Each time there was a tremendous booming sound that went through the ship like thunder.

This went on for several hours, and then when we cleared the Cape and entered the Indian Ocean the waves just... stopped. There was one last wave, and then the sea suddenly became almost flat.

It's as if there's just that one zone off the Cape where the two oceans battle for supremacy. I can understand the terror of rounding the Cape that sailors historically have held, and why so many ships were lost in that stretch of water. It really is a truly terrifying experience.

[meph]

from once every 10.000 years, to once every 2 days,
shit surely escalated quickly lol

[dangeary]

I can attest the “group of three.”
In 1987, hurricane Gilbert was still off the Yucatán, and Florence was heading towards New Orleans. Near the Florida coast, we were getting 18 foot “square waves.”
They always produced three peaks that would shoot into the air and pop a stream straight up between 15 to 30 feet high, the middle one being the most powerful.
We got popped by a few of the small ones, no big deal. Later in the day, a set came up, and I saw where the three were headed (reading the sea, so to speak) and I yelled out for everyone to grab onto something.
We got slamdanced.
One guy got hurt, and we were in real danger of sinking for a bit, as the deck was totally flooded with water clean to the combing.
We had MAYBE three inches of freeboard left, and the scuppers were completely overwhelmed, with some clogged with equipment that was tossed around on the deck.
Good thing we didn’t get hit by another set of them, we would have been done.
As it was, it took the rest of the day to deal with the damage and get things shipshape.
BTW, when waves are measured, it from the level water line.
18 feet up, 18 feet down.
So, if we were on a crest, we might be looking down 40 to the trough!

[johnspence]

As a surfer, rescue diver, & basic waterman I've always been fascinated by and love the ocean & her waves. People seem to forget a few things when trying to measure these monsters & their capacity to destroy. The first is finding something to use as scale when estimating the height. Comparing waves to mast height is deceptive as angles constantly shift as the wave moves. If you can get that covered (say a lighthouse or other fixed object) remember that a wave's height does not include the trough. The face of a wave is much larger than it's actual height as wave height is measured from the back of the wave.

Finally, it's the volume of water & speed with which it travels that gives you an idea of the power involved. I'd rather tackle a 30 footer off of Cape Hatteras, NC (East Coast US) than a 15 footer @ Shipstern's Bluff (Tasmania) or the Cortes Bank (Offshore San Diego, California). The speed, thickness, & way the latter spots collapse is much heavier than what I've faced on the East Coast of the USA. Mad respect to everyone who charges in our seas & oceans & even greater respect to Mother Ocean herself. The true cradle of humanity. Thanks for posting and raising awareness of the beauty & power of our beautiful oceans !! An enjoyable documentary, even for a seasoned waterman.

Finally, best way to avoid these monsters ?? Don't ever turn your back on Mother Nature. She's a jealous woman & will bitch-slap you into next Tuesday every time !!!

[-stevbrlne-]

I only recently discovered that I'm terrified of the ocean, and then my parents decided they wanted to go on a cruise and I had to come. I had worked up the courage and was prepared to go... and then I saw this video. Thanks a lot man.

[wesellis]

The ocean is fascinating and terrifying in equal measure

[lelandlewis]

I worked on repairing a ship that hit a rogue wave. It bent the hull plating in so you could count the support ribs and bent a 36" I-beam about 6" against its strongest profile. The ship was a car ferry with an opening bow and it pushed the whole bow visor over, opening a large gap between the hull and the visor. It was amazing the amount of damage done.

To top it off, many of the vehicles weren't tied down since it was supposed to be a smooth trip due to the stabilizers and mild seas, so they all slid forward, causing a lot of damage.

[InsaneHunter]

Living on the coast of the Hudson Bay in my younger years, I used to watch the waves form, merge and then crash upon the shore. Some were predictable, but most weren't. The biggest wave I saw was a merge wave where there was one fast wave pushing the smaller ones causing them to merge into a 15 footer. Keep in mind that the Hudson Bay is a shallow inland sea. The wave formed in 6 feet of water.

[DJ-ppmt]

The fact that there is so much in depth information readily available to everyone with a phone still blows my mind to this day. Technology truly is amazing

[chompooser]

I live in Hawaii. I was born here. I've fished the shores of these islands my whole life and "killer" waves is something we all know is fact. I was almost the victim of one about twenty years ago. We call them obake waves. We have a large asian population here and obake means ghost or spirit in Japanese. Hence, ghost wave. One of the things we do here when shore fishing along cliff area's is check the area for debris. If there is a good amount of debris your fairly safe from waves coming up to that area so that place is probably safer than places where it's clean of stuff. With that being said we always, always say here in Hawaii "never turn your back on the ocean." That's out of respect, reverence, and safety for and from our ocean.
A friend and myself set up our poles to fish and i went to check my line to secure it when out of calm water I noticed an unusual water build up and I
knew instantly at that point it was an obake wave! I called out to my friend who also saw it and I ran to the cliff area to get hold of the cliff wall. My friend was able to run into a niche. Then the wave hit us. I held on for my life. I felt water rushing over me as I held on as tight as I could and it was over as soon as it began. When i think back on it, even if it pulled us in, other than a few scratches and bruises we would've survived...maybe. if it was bigger we'd probably be dead. When i looked up the cliff after the water line of the wave was about ten or twelve feet up the wall. Our equipment was floating in the water, that which didn't sink, and our cooler was floating about twenty or thirty yards from the cliff shore. The area was now clean of any debris. We jumped in the water, got our floating stuff and left counting our blessings. Yes! we jumped of the rocks into the water to get our stuff. Like a said earlier, the area was fairly calm. We occasionally jump off the rocks to cool off from the heat and just climb back up. Respect the ocean, don't fear it. Well, maybe now i got a bit of fear. 😁 Rogue waves are real. We have tons of stories of them from shoremen to boatmen. It's amazing how "science" can make you ignorant. I'm glad it's coming around. Aloha!

[kilderok]

The 30 years old and still living with your parents one smacked me right in my rotting face. Talent and intelligence doesn't get you anywhere if you are stuck in a poverty vacuum.

[hyldrklein]

Square waves are terrifying. I had a first hand experience with them while I was on a school trip back in college. I was playing around with a friend a few meters off the shore line. The water was pretty shallow, about 4ft or so. But all of a sudden, there was no more sand under me and my friend and we were slowly getting pulled further and further away from the shoreline and under. It was fking terrifying considering me and my friend weren't good swimmers. Thankfully, a local noticed and rushed to pull us back to the shoreline.

[markrouse]

The volcano Krakatoa exploded in the 1883. On a passenger ship the passenger thought that the captain lost it as he turned the ship around and headed towards the volcanic island. The ship hit the waves bow first and was able to survive because the encounter was so brief. The island of Stromboli has the remains of what was left of a lighthouse, its basement .

[NikolajHansen]

The "Norwegian Dream" collided with the "Ever Decent" four miles southeast of the Falls Head Buoy. You can literally see containers from the ship caught on the bow of the "Norwegian Dream". They weren't put there by a wave.

[collincutler]

My submarine hit a large wave while on the surface during a mid level sea state outside Nova Scotia. There were 2 men on the bridge and the bridge hatch was open to control.
The boat dipped underwater and went nearly 200ft down before they were able to regain control and re surface.
We.took on over 1m lbs of water and lost all electronics in control.
Somehow both men on the bridge survived. One nearly drowned, the other had a raincoat on that held a pocket of air enough for him to take a breath.

[braddblk]

My 1st deployment was on board the Enterprise. During that cruise, we skirted several typhoons which created waves that broke over the flight deck. Some of them would hit us from the side even when the majority of the waves were at the bow.

[donaldgrant]

There seems to be a lot of things that scientist don't believe that can happen, but it does.