# So where do 70 foot freak waves come from. Other ships sunk? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 18, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843 "2005-04-18T03:39:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Faith\_is\_Good](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@Faith\_is\_Good](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faith_is_Good)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/1 "2005-04-18T03:39:52Z")
According to this story [http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=678070](http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=678070) this cruise ship faced a 70 foot freak wave. I just heard Geraldo say that he often sails the same area in his 70 sloop. What would have happened to his boat I wonder. There had to be other ships/boats/pleasure craft in the area what happened to them? What are the primary theories to explain these types of waves. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/2 "2005-04-18T04:31:28Z")
They’re called [rogue waves](http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMOKQL26WD_index_0.html). They were once thought to be rare, but satellite research is starting to indicate that they’re actually fairly common. Cause is still being studied. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/3 "2005-04-18T04:46:35Z")
Yep, I was finding a good site for rogue waves also: > **[EPN](https://epn.org/?doing_wp_cron=1634684309.8814148902893066406250)** > > The Emergency, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (EPN) I remember the QE2 encountering such a wave about 10 years ago and here’s a site for that: (scroll halfway down) > **[Cruises Home](https://www.fodors.com/cruises/)** The article says it occurred during hurricane conditions but they still call it a rogue wave. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/4 "2005-04-18T07:51:05Z")
As far as I understand, it’s caused (or _can be_ caused) by constructive interference; waves on the ocean aren’t just a single waveform, but are a superposition of many different wavelengths, amplitudes and directions; sometimes the peaks of these waves just happen to all coincide at the same place and time and when they do, they add together to make (what appears to be) a single large wave. if the wavelengths are really long and relatively close to each other, the phase of constructive interference can last for some distance. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/5 "2005-04-18T12:01:58Z")
There is also another possibility which might look like a large wave to the crew - though it doesn’t appear to be the case in the recent incident. A gas pocket under the bottom of the sea is released. These ‘bubbles’ will decrease the buoyancy of the ship and cause it to sink. In a test I saw it looked like a large wave, but what really happened is the ship sunk and the sea rushed in from the sides. ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/6 "2005-04-18T13:03:56Z")
Several witnesses spoke of several waves. The official measurement of the wave varies from 70 feet to 47 feet. Was this an actual “wave” or a swell? I thought swells–waves that roll, but do not break, IIRC–are far more common in open seas. Not that it’s jolly good news to get hit by a 47-foot swell, but what’s the straight dope on wave forms in open seas? And wouldn’t a swell be more survivable than a crashing wave? From USA Today: “It was pure hell. We’re talking 47-foot **waves** hitting the 10th floor, knocking Jacuzzis on the 12th floor overboard — people sleeping in hallways in life jackets,” Fraley told WCBD-TV in Charleston. “Just pure pandemonium.” Bill and Ellen Tesauro of Wayne, N.J., said they went to the ship’s casino when **waves** started slamming the vessel. “We figured it would take our minds off this (and) that’s when the captain announced that drinks are free all night,” Bill Tesauro told the Daily News of New York. “But then there was another horrendous slap on the water.” ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/7 "2005-04-18T14:08:15Z")
Lake Michigan is said to have them. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/8 "2005-04-18T17:35:01Z")
[For those who just want to look at the pictures.](http://tv-antenna.com/heavy-seas/) Most of these are just big waves, but some of the waves are rouges. I seem to recall that rouge waves are caused when waves of different lengths pile up, as **wolf\_meister** ’s link described. They’re more like sawtooth waves than simple sine waves, and appear as a [wall of water](http://www.naval.com/heavy-seas/3/burin.jpg) in the ocean (and possibly in Lake Michigan.) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/9 "2005-04-18T18:08:00Z")
Whoa Nellie! I’m going on a cruise myself in three weeks; I do not need to think about this. Not that I’ve ever heard of anything like this happening along the West Coast. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/10 "2005-04-18T18:14:20Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > [For those who just want to look at the pictures.](http://tv-antenna.com/heavy-seas/) Most of these are just big waves, but some of the waves are rouges. I seem to recall that rouge waves are caused when waves of different lengths pile up, as **wolf\_meister** ’s link described. They’re more like sawtooth waves than simple sine waves, and appear as a [wall of water](http://www.naval.com/heavy-seas/3/burin.jpg) in the ocean (and possibly in Lake Michigan.) So rouge waves happen when you get a rogue wave with a red tide? ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/11 "2005-04-18T18:21:53Z")
Well, they get sixty foot high waves at the Cortez Banks and that’s in the open ocean, but I think they are on most charts… ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/12 "2005-04-18T18:23:52Z")
:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/13 "2005-04-18T21:49:36Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > There is also another possibility which might look like a large wave to the crew - though it doesn’t appear to be the case in the recent incident. > > A gas pocket under the bottom of the sea is released. These ‘bubbles’ will decrease the buoyancy of the ship and cause it to sink. In a test I saw it looked like a large wave, but what really happened is the ship sunk and the sea rushed in from the sides. This is just so wrong in so many ways. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/14 "2005-04-18T21:53:19Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > Was this an actual “wave” or a swell? I thought swells–waves that roll, but do not break, IIRC–are far more common in open seas. Not that it’s jolly good news to get hit by a 47-foot swell, but what’s the straight dope on wave forms in open seas? And wouldn’t a swell be more survivable than a crashing wave? Heck yes. You don’t get “hit” by swell. I’ve been in the mid-atlantic on a yacht passing enormous swell, so large you really can’t say how big they are due to lack of reference points, but they are so rounded that you are just going up hill for a few minutes, then downhill for a few minutes. They are like riding over a series of gentle rolling hills. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/15 "2005-04-18T22:38:49Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > A gas pocket under the bottom of the sea is released. These ‘bubbles’ will decrease the buoyancy of the ship and cause it to sink. In a test I saw it looked like a large wave, but what really happened is the ship sunk and the sea rushed in from the sides. An unsyndicated “Far Side” cartoon: “Kevin! Was that YOU?” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/16 "2005-04-18T23:04:12Z")
This evening’s news spoke of two separate systems - a clockwise wind pattern in the north Atlantic and a counterclockwise wind pattern in the south Atlantic - “squeezing” the water in the middle where the systems met. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/17 "2005-04-18T23:23:47Z")
[A thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=254648) from almost exactly a year ago that also discussed the issue of giant waves. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Cooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@Agent\_Cooper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Cooper)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/18 "2005-04-18T23:40:39Z")
rouge |= rogue ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/19 "2005-04-19T00:28:29Z")
> [@Carnac the Magnificent!](#): > > Snip, snippity snip… > “We figured it would take our minds off this (and) that’s when the captain announced that drinks are free all night,” It´s just me or this seems to be a major irresponsibility?; drunking up the passengers wouldn´t help one bit in case of a more serious situation would have arisen, like the need to abandon the ship. ---
**Author:** ![Faith\_is\_Good](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@Faith\_is\_Good](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faith_is_Good)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843/20 "2005-04-19T05:16:50Z")
I saw two of the survivors interviewed tonight on O’Reilly and they said that it wasn’t just one or two waves, but _hours_ of fifty and sixty foot waves with a few even bigger waves thrown into the mix. It raises a couple of important questions: a. How is it possible to have so many abnormally large waves. b. How big would a boat have to be to survive that? Would Geraldo’s 70 foot sloop have been history? c. Wasn’t that cruise ship in a busy shipping area so you would think that other ships would have been battered or worse lost. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-where-do-70-foot-freak-waves-come-from-other-ships-sunk/299843.md?page=2)