100-foot Ocean Waves Confirmed

[Droogie]

I wonder if the conditions that create these waves migth prove to be more common in the "Bermuda Triangle" area? Might explain some of the disappearances.

[Cue Leonard Nimoy: "In Search of...Big-a waves"

There was a show about this on the history channel recently. Evidence suggests that boats are sunk from giant eruptions of methane gas from the ocean floor, a fairly common occurance in the burmuda triangle. If a giant bubble hits the prow or stern of a ship, it dips down in the water causing it to sink within minutes. No time for even a distress call.

Giant clouds of methane can stall the engines of a prop plane, as well.

Not only that, but since methane is less dense than air, an aircraft altimeter (which is based on air pressure) will read that you're suddenly climbing rapidly when in fact you're actually level or even diving. The pilot gets confused (especially on a dark night) and crashes into the ocean.

Enjoy your next cruise.

 

[Capellan]

Heh. My first response was "sounds like an adventure hook to me". I sent it to our local Conspiracy-X GM ... it's perfect for conspiracy type games

 

[jester47]

There was a show about this on the history channel recently. Evidence suggests that boats are sunk from giant eruptions of methane gas from the ocean floor, a fairly common occurance in the burmuda triangle. If a giant bubble hits the prow or stern of a ship, it dips down in the water causing it to sink within minutes. No time for even a distress call.

Giant clouds of methane can stall the engines of a prop plane, as well.

Not only that, but since methane is less dense than air, an aircraft altimeter (which is based on air pressure) will read that you're suddenly climbing rapidly when in fact you're actually level or even diving. The pilot gets confused (especially on a dark night) and crashes into the ocean.

Enjoy your next cruise.

Not only that, but what are the chances of survival if the engine ignites the methane?

hrm thought...

"Beneath the waves Cthulhu lies farting?"

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

"Beneath the waves Cthulhu lies farting?"

ROFLMAO!

Somehow it makes him, though perhaps even deadlier, a lot less scary.

 

[Silver Moon]

Did anyone else notice the end of the article stated that over 200 ships of 650'+ in length have been lost at sea over the past twenty years? That is real close to one a month.

My guess is that those losses have far more to do with the seaworthiness of the ships than the size of the waves. There are lots of old ships out there that are long past their prime and haven't had adequate maintenance in years.

 

[Krieg]

My guess is that those losses have far more to do with the seaworthiness of the ships than the size of the waves. There are lots of old ships out there that are long past their prime and haven't had adequate maintenance in years.

I wasn't necessarily directly equating the losses with giant waves (although the story does try to draw an inference), it just struck me as a pretty staggering number. The gross cost of ship & cargo losses at that rate is pretty stunning.

 

[Umbran]

There's an interesting thing to note here - the article mentions the height of the waves as being notable. But they don't mention the length.

The length is important. An 80 foot high wave that's 80 feet long looks like a wall of water. An 80 foot tall wave that's 17 miles long looks like such a long swell that you may not notice it's existance...

 

[Derulbaskul]

My guess is that those losses have far more to do with the seaworthiness of the ships than the size of the waves. There are lots of old ships out there that are long past their prime and haven't had adequate maintenance in years.

Where I used to work we chartered about 50 ships per year to carry bulk cargo into India. You would be amazed at how poor a condition those ships were in. The majority of the vessels would have been arrested in any port other than the corrupt ones we loaded at in SE Asia or unloaded at in India.

 

[Droogie]

Not only that, but what are the chances of survival if the engine ignites the methane?

hrm thought...

"Beneath the waves Cthulhu lies farting?"

The door was wide open for a fart joke. Thank you for stepping over the threshold.

They theorized that the methane would ignite, but it turned out this wasn't the case in tests.