Rogue Waves: Oceanic Monsters

Welcome to Weird Wednesday! Today we are on the open ocean, looking for terrors spawned by the ocean itself.

Rogue waves are single waves or small series of waves which tower over the surrounding sea. Also called freak waves, they’re not tsunamis, which are quite small at sea and grow large only when they hit shallow water. They’re just monstrous, unexpected waves, up to three times the height of the waves around them. Sometimes they’re generated by a storm, and sometimes by an ocean that’s otherwise as calm as can be.

Early study of rogue waves ran into a problem: according to wave models of the time, a wave so much higher than its neighboring waves was physically impossible. So despite sailors’ eyewitness stories and ships with damage high above the waterline, rogue waves were thought to be a myth.

Another reason for the disbelief was probably because the best evidence was no evidence at all. The thing about seeing something terribly dangerous on the open ocean is that unfortunately, you may not live to tell about it, and that seems to be the case with a lot of suspected rogue waves. Waves big enough to sink ships did, in fact, sink ships, leaving no one to tell the tale.

And then came the Draupner Wave. The Draupner Platform was a gas pipeline support complex in the North Sea. It was built to withstand the highest wave people thought possible in the area at the time, about 64 feet. On New Year’s Day 1995, at 3 pm, the workers on the platform were treated to a wave crashing over their structure at a height of 84 feet. Fortunately, no one was injured, and the platform sustained only minor damage. But crucially, the Draupner Platform had high-tech sensors, which proved for the first time the existence of a rogue wave. It was time for some new physics.

Today, rogue waves are thought to be quite common, and may occur in lakes as well (and be linked to the sudden sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald). They may even be a threat to low-flying rescue helicopters [pdf].

Rogue waves can sink ships via flooding, or snap them apart, as they’re not made to withstand the pressure of a wave so large. At sea, the wave would look like a wall of water, and the trough before it like a hole in the sea.

And now for some rogue writing prompts!

• The Sinking Dutchman. A whole ship’s worth of people dying suddenly via rogue wave on an otherwise uneventful day would be a good recipe for a ghost story. The ship might reappear on the anniversary of its sinking, (like the Palatine Light), or your story could have a modern ship that picks up a few hundred vintage ghosts every time it passes through certain waters. Might they try to warn the captain or passengers if another rogue wave threatens?

• Rocking the Boat. The physics of rogue waves is still a topic of debate. You could write a scientist who discovers there is agency behind the waves, not just natural patterns. Maybe aliens are conducting wave research on earth, or a giant sea monster is creating waves when it moves. Or the cause could be a (steampunk) machine built by some eccentric, or secret military tech, or a time distortion like those said to happen in the Bermuda Triangle.

• An ocean of secrets. Literary stories often examine human relationships when a stressor is introduced, and a rogue wave strike could fit the bill. Put your characters on a military or merchant ship, add romantic and workplace drama, and then have a monstrous wave disable the ship. This kind of story would dive deep (ha ha) into the emotions of your characters. Who would rally to save the ship? Who would only try to save themselves? What true feelings would be revealed in the crisis? (It’s a well-loved trope: put them on a luxury liner and you’ve got The Poseidon Adventure.)

• A charming voyage. Sailing superstitions are meant to ward off bad luck. What if, in a magical world, you had an actual charm or amulet that could ward off rogue waves? Say your ship is on a super-secret mission to deliver some precious cargo, like medicine for a stricken town, or to rescue people from a war zone. It’s too important to risk crossing the magical ocean without serious protection, so your characters have to find and properly use the amulet to protect the ship. Obviously, that’s going to go wrong, or you wouldn’t have a story. What do your characters do when they see their charm has failed and a giant wave is approaching?

• You’ve got to believe me. You could have a historical drama where the sole survivor of a rogue wave incident tries desperately to prove what really happened. Scientists dismiss them, the press treats them like they’re delusional because they spent days alone in a lifeboat, and perhaps some conspiracy theorists suspect them of sabotaging the ship themselves and killing everyone else aboard. Without evidence to back up the claim, how would your character go about convincing the world of what they saw, while mourning friends or coworkers lost in the wreck?

Thanks for spending your Weird Wednesday here! Let’s hope for calm seas on the way home.

Sources & further reading:

Rogue Waves Revealed: National Geographic (video with transcript)

Ship-sinking monster waves revealed by ESA satellites: European Space Agency

Monster Waves Threaten Rescue Helicopters [pdf]: US Naval Institute

Freak Waves [pdf]: Loss Prevention

Rogue Wave: Wikipedia

List of Rogue Waves: Wikipedia

Liu, Paul C. (2007). A chronology of freaque wave encounters. GEOFIZIKA, 24(1)57-70. https://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2007/20070019.pdf