# Freak Wave TV Programme



## Chris Isaac (Jul 29, 2006)

If you have "Catch Up TV" go to the Eden Channel and watch the programme about freak waves.

For me this programme made me recall the incident off Port St Johns involving Edinburgh Castle when considerable damage was done by one of these waves.
Here you can find the strory of the event as told by the master Capt Billy Byles: http://www.bandcstaffregister.co.uk/page149.html
I wonder what he would have made of last night's terrific programme, it may have explained a lot to him.


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## makko (Jul 20, 2006)

Hi Chris,
I have witnessed rogue waves in the North Atlantic, around March time. One was higher than the ship! They appear and then just disappear. When I was in American Samoa following the tsunami, I asked a lady from the NOAA who was staying at the same hotel what her view was on the subject. Apparently, they have only been recognized since about 2000. Before that, it was considered "swinging the lamp".
A frightening phenomena and I can only imagine how that is multiplied if one catches you.
Rgds.
Dave


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## Iangb (Aug 28, 2009)

I was on Kooringa when we encountered a 'freak' wave in the G Australian Bight in '67.
Being on a regular Melbourne - Fremantle run we were used to some pretty rough conditions, and Kooringa's 'unusual' action due to the 10ft sponsons which extended from each side...she slammed....a lot. (A photo of one her normal slams http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/gallery/data/513/medium/Kooringa_amsll.jpg )
On this occasion however as we dipped off the crest of a swell we saw a 60-80ft wave peaking and just about to break. It broke over the forepart burying everything back to No.3 with the sponsons acting like aquaplanes holding the bows down briefly.
The damage included fo'c'sle coamings set up, railings destroyed, two stacks of containers gone with the third badly damaged, and the accommodation coated with a horrible mix of lamp black and condensed milk which had been container cargo.


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## Wallace Slough (Mar 21, 2009)

I only experienced one rogue wave in my sea going career, but it was an event which is indelibly ingrained in my memory.  We were making a North Atlantic crossing westbound in heavy weather with a 35 foot head sea. The captain had on turns for 18 knots, but we were only making 6 knots and taking a terrible beating with the ship occasionally taking green water back to the amidship house. I'd called the captain when I came on watch at 4 am asking to slow the ship down after we'd taken three seas as noted in ten minutes, but was ordered to "keep this ship on xx nozzles." Just about daylight, I saw a huge sea off the port bow which was at least twice the height of the other waves making it at least 70 feet high. We were looking up at the crest from the wheelhouse. There was nothing to do but hold on and wait for the event to unfold. The ship's motion was such that instead of plowing through the wave as she'd done on many occasions, she rose up what seemed to be almost vertically wherein the entire forebody of the ship back to amidships came out of the water. When gravity pulled her back into the ocean, the spray went up at least 100+ feet on each side of the forepart of the vessel. Then the sickening bending movement worked it's way repeatedly through the ship, much like repeatedly bending a bobby pin until it breaks. In any case, there was no visible damage, and all the double bottoms were pressed up full to hopefully prevent any damage if such an event occurred. I wouldn't doubt that the ship probably sustained structural damage that was not visible until a drydocking. It was all for naught, as when we arrived in New York, the ship was laid up due to a longshore strike. Pressing on in these types of conditions accomplishes very little regarding headway in my opinion, and can cause irreparable damage to a ship.


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