Rogue Wave Kills Two On Cruise Ship

[capcook]

Was looking around but didn't see where anyone had started a thread on this event... anyone else think they can't measure a wave? Come on, a 26' wave crashes over the deck of a 14 story cruise ship with enough force to break out the windows which in turn apparently killed to passengers... that wave had to be 50 ft at least... they say it was due to 45mph winds...ya right... had to be much higher don't you think?? So now I wonder, if you were in a light boat say 45ft mono or CAT, would you simply float over the wave (the cruise ship would have plowed through it).. so perhaps a bit of a surprise for the cruiser, but likely not going to sink you ?

Thoughts

Giant waves hit cruise ship; 2 passengers killed - CNN.com

[Stillraining]

14 story would be upper deck level....main deck less then 1/2 of that.

FWIW 90% of people over estimate wave height.

[hummingway]

Wave height being half the distance from trough to crest it's easy to understand why people overestimate.

A friend got hit by a smallish rogue while at anchor. It was an anchorage that was open to one direction but since there was no weather from that direction they had dropped the hook for the day. He was bar-b-queing with some friends on board. He looked up just in time to yell hang on. The wave broke over their beam and soaked everyone but no-one went over.

[forsailbyowner]

Slight correction, wave height is from sea level to crest. Doesn't include trough below sea level.

[FrankZ]

If I remember science class wave height is from trough to crest.

[Stillraining]

I rest my case...

[forsailbyowner]

My bad, was referring to something I read in chapmans long ago, must have been thinking of wave amplitude

[hpeer]

Alas, confusion is rampant.

Wave height

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

USS Kroonland. View looking afterwards, while she was steaming in heavy seas during a transatlantic passage, circa March 1919. Note the crates piled on deck, and whaleboat on davits at the left.



Wave characteristics.


In fluid dynamics, the wave height of a surface wave is the difference between the elevations of a crest and a neighbouring trough.[1] Wave height is a term used by mariners, as well as in coastal, ocean engineering and naval engineering.
At sea, the term significant wave height is used as a means to introduce a well-defined and standardized statistic to denote the characteristic height of the random waves in a sea state. It is defined in such a way that it more–or–less corresponds to what a mariner observes when estimating visually the average wave height.

• Significant wave height H1/3, or Hs or Hsig, in the time domain, is defined as the average height of the one-third part of the measured waves—which are N in number—having the largest wave heights:[2]

with Hm the individual wave heights, sorted in such a way that the highest wave has m=1 and the lowest wave is for m=N. Only the highest one-third is used, since this corresponds best with visual observations of experienced mariners: eyes and brain apparently focus on the higher waves seen.[2]

[DaveC]

It doesn't say they were squashed by the water. 26 foot waves could have caused the boat to heel heavily, making them slip and hit thier heads or fall off of some stairs or balcony or something.

If you go to YouTube and search for "cruise ship in storm", there is a video of a large cruise ship forced onto her beam-ends by large seas. I bet the ship's liquor bar filled up with people after that!

[Captain Bill]

The Wiki article is correct, at least it is what I was taught in college when I got my degree in Marine science 32 years ago.

[capcook]

Originally Posted by Stillraining

14 story would be upper deck level....main deck less then 1/2 of that.

FWIW 90% of people over estimate wave height.

Yes, I just stated the fact the ship had 14 stories to help dimensionalize the ship, I know the 14 stories are both below and above deck....

Now here is a reference I can better relate to... they talk about a 50' rouge wave and suspect the one that got this latest ship was probably in that class too...

Date Published: January 29, 2005 Latest Cruise News Headlines
Rogue Wave Slams MV ExplorerEarly Wednesday morning, the MV Explorer -- the ship operated by the University of Pittsburgh's Semester at Sea program -- ran into stormy weather and was hit by an extra-large wave that broke the window over the bridge, injured three crew members and disabled the ship's electronic engine control system. Media reports that say the wave was 50 ft. high could not be confirmed. The ship, Royal Olympic's former Olympia Explorer, had departed from Vancouver on January 18 and was on its way to Korea when the incident occurred. MV Explorer was carrying some 680 students, faculty and staff affiliated with Semester at Sea.

[hummingway]

I feel better knowing that when we're talking 50 foot seas we're not talking amplitude.

[Stillraining]

Well in your article you just posted it does say the Bridge which is way up there so it could be so...

Is this a different boat from the same Sea School?

[Jim Cate]

G'Day all,

So, if I have the definitions straight, the significant wave height is used to describe a general sea state, not an individual wave, rogue or otherwise. Wave height in general does refer to the height from trough to peak for a specific, individual wave, such as this alleged "rogue" wave that struck the cruise ship.

For me, as a sailor, I will be interested in the significant wave height when considering the advisability of putting to sea or taking evasive action and so on. I will be interested in wave height of an individual wave when I'm at the bottom of a trough and looking 50 feet (or whatever) up at a tumbling crest bearing down on me!

There is a further definition: percieved wave height. This is the actual wave height multiplied by a factor which is determined by the number of drinks consumed by the sailor, and by the number of attractive ladies in the audience. The factor is sometimes quite large...

Cheers,

Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II lying Church Point, NSW, Oz

[Blue Stocking]

July 1966, Italian liner Michaelangelo took a wave to the nav bridge which crushed the bridge, and killed two.
About that same time, the Furness Withy liner Queen of Bermuda stove in her forward hatches, from a wave, and flooded her forward sections. A friend of mine, who worked in her engine room, told me they had to use an emergency bilge pump for the first time since building her in 1936.