GREAT
TSUNAMIS
ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT July 21, A.D. 365.
Giant
tsunamis killed more than 50,000 people.
SOUTHERN ASIA/EASTERN AFRICA December 26,
2004.
Over 250,000
people killed.
ROGUE WAVES
FIRST
ROGUE WAVES ENCOUNTERED BY EUROPEANS IN NEW WORLD.
While on his third voyage on August 4,
1498, Columbus’ fleet of six ships was en-route along the southern tip of
Trinidad to the Gulf of Paria when Columbus heard a fearsome roaring from behind
his flagship. He turned to see a rogue wave as high as the ships masts and
approaching faster than the fleet could escape. It lifted the vessels; hoisting
them higher than anything the Admiral had ever experienced and then dropped the
fleet into a huge trough. But it didn't stop the ships. Once the wave was
behind, the flotilla hastened to escape the constricted passage they had just
sailed through, to get to the Gulf. Columbus named the passageway "Mouth of
the Serpent."
NOTORIOUS DEMONS
The convict ship Waterloo, left England in 1842 for Sydney with
219 male convicts, and 51 soldiers and crew.
While taking on provisions at Simon's Bay, Cape of Good Hope, South
Africa, on August 27, a gale struck her while at anchor. She broke her anchors
and drifted ashore, breaking in two almost at once. Although the convicts were
released to save themselves, huge waves swept 190 of them overboard where they
drowned.
The
emigrant ship Annie Jane, left Liverpool in 1853 for Canada with over 500
people on board. On September 28, while off Barra Island, Hebrides, the ship was
struck by a huge wave and 200 people were instantly crushed to death by the
collapse of the poop deck. The ship sank soon afterwards, and 102 people were
washed safely ashore on a portion of the deck.
On February 14, 1883 while en-route from Liverpool to Boston, the 320 - foot steamship Glamorgan was hit by an enormous wave
that swept the captain and seven men overboard. On February 16, the ship was
sighted by the steamship, Republic, which took off 44 survivors before
the Glamorqan sank.
The yacht Nignonette set sail on May 19, 1884, from Southampton, England, bound for Sydney, Australia on a 12,000-mile voyage. Off the coast of West Africa the vessel was hit by a monstrous storm system. After four terrifying days battling towering waves and hurricane-force gales, a monstrous forty-foot "rogue" wave sunk the Mignonette. The captain and his three-member crew were cast adrift a thousand miles from land in a leaky 13-foot dinghy. After 19 days adrift, with no food or water, the captain resorted to killing the 17-year-old cabin boy for food and to try and save the lives of three left aboard. Five days later, a passing ship rescued them.
The ocean liner Queen Mary was hit by a 75-foot wave 700 miles west of Scotland while carrying troops during World War II.
In 1976, the oil tanker Cretan Star
radios for help: "Vessel struck by huge wave that went over the deck."
That was the last message ever heard from the ship.