Rogue Waves: Oceanic Monsters

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Hey, y’all, it’s Weird Wednesday! Where on some Wednesdays, I blog about weird stuff and give writing prompts.

Today: Rogue Waves: Oceanic Monsters

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 physcially 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. 

Check out the blog post for the whole story and some writing prompts, such as: 

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?

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