Huge wave damages college-at-sea ship

[Ripley]

Was this a tsunami? They don't say. Man, I guess I missed the boat...I never took college classes on a cruise ship!

snip>>

HONOLULU, Hawaii (AP) -- A passenger ship with about 700 college students aboard limped into Honolulu Harbor five days after a huge wave tossed the vessel around in heavy seas, damaging three of its four engines and injuring two crew members.

"Most people have been happy it's finally sunny and are glad to be going to Hawaii," Becca Leonard, a 21-year-old junior at the University of Southern California, said Monday after the ship pulled into port.

The 591-foot Explorer, with 990 people aboard, was about 650 miles south of Adak, Alaska, when the wave hit early Wednesday morning. Adak is in the Aleutian Islands about 1,300 miles southwest of Anchorage.

The 50-foot wave broke furniture and computers on the ship, and students participating in the Semester at Sea program were forced to sit on the floor for classes for several days after the incident.

snip>>

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/01/stricken.vessel.ap/index.html

[Willy Lee]

1. 50 foot waves- treacherous seas- not uncommon in Alaska.

Mother Nature rocks!!

[Ripley]

3. Yeah, I got thrown out of bed on a ship off the Alaska coast.

But it was a very small ship, only 100 passengers. I've never heard of a wave doing such damage to a large ship...and you'd think they would have avoided the choppy areas. In my experience the Captain told us at dinner that we were heading into bad currents over night and some might want to take their motion-sickness meds. Scared the crap out of me!

[Lisa]

12. Aleutian Low spawns some pretty nasty storms this time of year ...

I'm glad they didn't lose anybody.

p.s. I guess people will certainly be paying attention to the meteorology and oceanography lectures!

[Liberty Belle]

2. Wow. I've interviewed the operator of this ship before.

I'm glad everyone's okay. Talk about giving the kids fodder for those "what I did on my vacation" essays!

[cyberpj]

4. Whoa! My brother was a course professor on this ship last year -

Just sent him the link, thanks for sharing it.

He had mixed feelings about the Semester At Sea experience. It was a wonderful opportunity for great learning that is mostly wasted on the rich students who take the journey -- and who are also very sad examples of Americans as they present themselves during visits to the various ports, cities and countries.

At least that was his experience on the one trip he took.

[Ripley]

5. I knew it.

Rich Bushbots. They won't learn a damn thing about other cultures. They're probably the type that complain they can't find a McDonald's on Easter Island.

[mudderfudder77]

6. They also offer scholarships

for disadvantaged students. While most are the offspring of middle to upper class families they do take a certain number of "scholarship" students each semester.

[cyberpj]

9. True that. He thought some of the kids were great -

but unfortunately outnumbered by the partying and Prada crowd.

(Must have felt like the Dems in our gov't lately.......)

[ermoore]

7. Dude, nothin' wrong with McDonalds abroad.

I spent a year abroad (Taiwan, Thailand, India, Turkey), and let me tell you, McDonalds tastes pretty good after weeks and weeks and weeks of Taiwanese food. And for that matter, Pizza Hut is a godsend every now and then in India (your digestive system will literally thank you).

[w4rma]

14. Pizza Hut pizzas are greasy.

They are like biting into toast, with tomato sause on top, that was dipped in grease. My digestive system got very unhappy the last time I ate there.

[DemoTex]

8. Rogue wave ..

The QE-2 got hit by a rogue wave a few years ago. It was in the middle of the night so most people were in their beds. There was considerable damage to the QE-2, which necessitated a change in her destination from New York to a repair facility at Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts.

A friend of mine who retired from the US Navy as a rear-admiral had experiences with several rogue waves during his sea-going days. Scary stuff.

[Lisa]

16. one of my profs described something similar near Antarctica ...

He's been on multiple oceanographic voyages on various research vessels -- and the crew was among the most experienced in the world -- but there were moments when they all believed they were going to die.

[carlvs]

10. Likely a "Rouge Wave"

I doubt that this was a tsunami - they need the shallow water of a beach or harbor in order to grow in height; out at sea they tend to be pretty small (only a few feet tall at most.)

From the desciption of the conditions at the time the ship got hit, it sounds like it got hit by what is called a "rouge wave." These relatively rare monsters tend to form in stormy seas, and can grow to be 100' or more in height.

The people on the ship can count themselves lucky - these waves have been implicated in a number of sinkings over the years.

You might be interested in this Google search link to find out more.

[Ripley]

11. Thanks for the link.

Poseidon Adventure!

[PROGRESSIVE1]

13. .

[DELUSIONAL]

15. Rogue Waves -- links

Waves have facinated me -- I've been following the research into Rogue waves.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/3917539.stm
Freak waves spotted from space
The shady phenomenon of freak waves as tall as 10 storey buildings had finally been proved, the European Space Agency (Esa) said on Wednesday.

Sailors often whisper of monster waves when ships sink mysteriously but, until now, no one quite believed them.

As part of a project called MaxWave - which was set up to test the rumours - two Esa satellites surveyed the oceans.

During a three week period they detected 10 giant waves, all of which were over 25m (81ft) high.

Strange disappearances

Over the last two decades more than 200 super-carriers - cargo ships over 200m long - have been lost at sea. Eyewitness reports suggest many were sunk by high and violent walls of water that rose up out of calm seas.

But for years these tales of towering beasts were written off as fantasy; and many marine scientists clung to statistical models stating monstrous deviations from the normal sea state occur once every 1,000 years.

The waves exist in higher numbers than anyone expected
Wolfgang Rosenthal, GKSS Research Centre, Germany
"Two large ships sink every week on average," said Wolfgang Rosenthal, of the GKSS Research Centre in Geesthacht, Germany. "But the cause is never studied to the same detail as an air crash. It simply gets put down to 'bad weather'."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1675801.stm

Monday, 26 November, 2001, 06:25 GMT
'Rogue wave' theory for ship disaster
The 44 crewmen perished when the bulk carrier sank
Scientists have discovered that a rogue wave pattern helped cause one of the UK's biggest maritime disasters.

More than 40 people died when the MV Derbyshire was lost during a typhoon in the South China Sea in 1980.

An inquiry ruled last year that a hatch cover had failed to withstand the pressure caused by huge waves which buffeted the 160,000-tonne bulk carrier.

Now further research has shown the ship got into trouble because the waves were exactly the same length as the vessel.

--------------



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2450407.stm

Tuesday, 12 November, 2002, 21:52 GMT
Science investigates freak waves
Mariners have told of freak waves for centuries
Freak waves up to 30 metres high (100 feet) that rise up from calm seas to destroy ships do exist, researchers argue.

For centuries sailors have blamed mysterious surges of water for unexplainable sinkings but the claims have always attracted plenty of scepticism.

However, there is now growing evidence, including satellite imagery, which suggests the massive waves may be more than just maritime myth.

New data on the phenomenon, featured by the BBC Science programme Horizon, have led to calls for improved ship designs that will withstand huge water surges.

The matter will be raised in the House of Commons in London, UK, on Thursday.

Click here to see the BBC Horizon programme web page on freak waves.

Walls of water

Every week, a ship sinks to the bottom of the sea, and often there seems no obvious explanation.

These disappearances are usually blamed on human error or the poor maintenance of a vessel.

But in many cases, sailors have their own theory: a single massive wave that appears out of the blue and sinks the ship with one blow.

Evidence presented by Horizon suggests a 43,000-tonne cargo ship, the Munchen - which sank with all hands in 1978 - was struck with huge force.

Several researchers who have studied the event now think a giant wave was responsible. <snip>

--------------------

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2236132.stm

New type of ocean wave detected
Taking measurements between Hawaii and California


By Dr David Whitehouse
BBC News Online science editor
A new type of ocean wave has been found. It hugs the sea bed and constantly exchanges energy between the sea floor and the water just above it.

It was discovered by Cinna Lomnitz of the University of Mexico and US oceanographer Rhett Butler using data from a unique sea floor seismic observatory in the Pacific.

Professor Lomnitz was alerted to the possible existence of so-called coupled waves by the disastrous earthquake in Mexico City in 1985.

Destructive waves rippled through mud layers beneath the city causing many buildings to collapse. The waves found spreading through the oceans following earthquakes are similar.

[Ripley]

17. Yikes!

Over the last two decades more than 200 super-carriers - cargo ships over 200m long - have been lost at sea. Eyewitness reports suggest many were sunk by high and violent walls of water that rose up out of calm seas.

That is scary stuff...an 81 foot high wave???? I remember seeing a Bermuda Triangle "investigative" show on TV and quacks were claiming the area is haunted, or evil, or controlled by the Aliens who live undersea in the Lost Atlantis city. :eyes: Sounds like a rogue wave zone to me!

[cyberpj]

18. Here's a link to photos and video of the Semester At Sea ship -

My brother, a course professor on last year's trip forwarded it to me.

"One of the other faculty members from our summer voyage sent me this web site to check out. There is a video clip of the ship in motion. Sure glad I wasn't on it this year. -Bill"

They also showed some of this clip on Countdown tonight...

http://www.nbc5.com/news/4152320/detail.html