It's the middle of the night you're standing on the bridge of a ship in the middle of the
ocean when suddenly you spot what looks like the White Cliffs of Dover coming towards you
this was the experience for those on the bridge of the QE2 in 1995 when the ship was hit by a massive
wave estimated to be 95 feet or around 29 meters tall that's a lot of water and QE2 isn't the only
ship to have battled intense waves. Hello my name is Chris Frame for those of you who don't know me
I'm a maritime history author and lecturer I speak on board cruise ships and at Maritime
Museums around the world. If you're interested in cruising, cruise ships or Maritime History I think
you're going to like it here, so hopefully you'll subscribe at the end of this video.
Rogue
Wave is a term used to describe a wave which is at least two times higher than the waves
around it. So it's not just a big wave it's got to be considerably bigger than the waves
around it to be considered Rogue. There have been multiple instances of ships being hit by
rogue waves over the decades, but did you know that the definition and recording of
rogue waves only began in a coordinated official capacity in 1995! Prior to this
there was no specific classification for these massive waves. Now it's important to note that
a rogue wave isn't the same thing as a tsunami. A tsunami is a long wave created by seismic action.
In deep ocean, a tsunami is generally not going to dramatically increase in height. Tsunamis increase
in height as they travel towards land as the ocean floor becomes shallower the water is forced
upwards leading to often devastating consequences for low-lying areas on land. By their very nature
rogue waves are unpredictable, they can come from directions other than what would be expected by
the prevailing wind and waves, they can be caused by storms and by swells passing through each
other. The good news is rogue waves break out at sea and generally don't last for very long,
perhaps a few minutes, so you're unlikely to see one on your next cruise, but if a
ship happens to be in its path when the wave is formed well then things can get a bit tricky.
Even though the exact definition of a rogue wave has only existed for the last few decades giant
and unexpected waves have been long described by Sailors. Though for many years these stories
were thought to be just that - stories. These days scientists have a better understanding of
the existence of these waves and some of these historic reports are now believed to have been
caused by rogue waves. For example in 1942 whilst undertaking trooping duties Queen Mary was hit by
a wave estimated to be around 75 feet or 22.8 meters tall! Some reports even put this wave as
high as 30 meters or 98 feet. The ship took on a 52 degree list but did manage to right itself and
was able to sail back to the harbour. With an estimated 16,000 people on board at the time,
this could have been a very different story! Yes, 16,000 people, if you want to find out
why the Queen Mary was so overladen, check out my video about the Cunard Queens at War.
Oher historic examples of ships being struck by enormous waves include the Norddeutsche Lloyd
liner Kronprinz Wilhelm, which was struck head-on by a huge wave on its maiden voyage in 1901.
You can also look to the Lusitania which sustained damage in 1910 with the bridge Windows being
smashed by the impact at the Forecastle and Bridge, both being pushed lower a bit. In 1966
two passengers and a crew member tragically died after the Italia lines Michelangelo was struck
by a huge wave causing significant damage to the forward part of the superstructure.
In 2001 the Bremen suffered damage from a rogue wave the ship lost power leaving it stranded in
the middle of very rough weather, luckily the crew were able to restart the engines,
though not without some difficulty, that same year Caledonian Star took damage to it's navigation and
communication equipment when the bridge was flooded by a rogue wave. Norwegian Dawn was
struck by a series of large waves in 2005 and in 2007 Prinsendam was also struck by a large
wave. More recently in November 2022 the Viking Polaris was hit by a giant wave whilst on an
Antarctic Cruise causing the tragic death of one of the passengers and injuring several others.
Despite these examples, ships are designed to withstand wild weather and wild seas, but a rogue
wave can still be extremely dangerous, especially for smaller vessels. If a wave cannot be avoided
then the officers will try and turn the ship's bow into the wave rather than allowing the wave to hit
the ship's side on which would be considerably more damaging. In the case of QE2 in 1995 this is
exactly what they did. The ship was turned into the wave which was described by Commodore Ron
Warwick as looking like the White Cliffs of Dover coming towards them. The ship dipped down into the
trough before the wave crashed over the bow, with the water level reaching over the bridge windows,
and took the forward whistle mast away with it! Despite the weight and power of the water the ship
fared very well in the encounter, remarkably the majority of passengers slept through the
entire event, only finding out about their lucky escape the next day when they woke up to find a
certificate under the door congratulating them for surviving the ordeal Though rogue waves can
come from anywhere there are certain areas where they are more common these days cruise ships avoid
traveling through the more notorious areas in an attempt to keep the passage smooth for passengers.
Now before you go canceling your cruise rest assured the number of incidents of rogue waves
mean that the likelihood of encountering one on your next cruise is very low so don't let movies
like 'The Poseidon Adventure' put you off booking your next cruise. So thanks so much for watching
and I hope you found the video interesting if you did please don't forget to give it a like,
or if you find this kind of content interesting or are interested in Maritime History please consider
subscribing it would be great to have you on board thank you as always to Rob Henderson and
Doug Cremer for the fantastic pictures in the Henderson and Cremer collection, thank you also
to Mike Brady from ocean liner designs for his support in this video with the animations that
have been used, he's got a fantastic Channel full of Maritime History which I've linked In
the description below, thanks once again and until next time I hope to see you on board
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