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Rogue Wave Sinks Poseidon |
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Written by Sean L. McCarthy - Boston Herald
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Thursday, 11 May 2006 |
'Poseidon' makes waves about cruise ship safety
The
largest cruise ship in the world made its U.S. debut yesterday, but
even at 208 feet above the water and 185 feet wide, Royal Caribbean's
Freedom of the Seas is dwarfed by the fictional Poseidon - which itself
gets sunk in the big screen remake.
Movie remakes don't have spoilers, so it's safe to say that a "rogue wave" capsizes the 20-story-tall ship in "Poseidon."
The National Weather Service defines a rogue wave as an ocean phenomenon, a sudden shift in prevailing conditions that produces an unexpectedly high wave.
But could it cause a cruise ship to roll over?
It hasn't yet.
"The film is fiction," said Carnival Cruise Lines spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz.
De la Cruz said maritime industry structural requirements require that all passenger ships be able to withstand what Mother Nature can dish out.
"No cruise ship has ever been capsized or severely damaged by a rogue wave," she said.
That's not to say it's always safe for smaller vessels and fishing boats to go out in stormy waters.
In November, the Coast Guard rescued four fishermen from the 55-foot Sea Witch after that boat was swamped by a rogue wave 80 miles southeast of Cape Elizabeth.
The Coast Guard reported winds close to 65 mph and swells of 15-20 feet that night. The crew survived.
But they had to think fast to do so. As John Emerton, one of the rescued fishermen, told the Portland Press Herald, "One minute you're working on deck. The next minute, you're bailing for your life. We just had to react."
At MIT's Center for Ocean Engineering, professor Paul Sclavounos specializes in the impacts waves have on ships and offshore oil platforms. Sclavounos said the rogue wave is rarely seen.
"I'm not sure we know the physics of rogue waves," he said.
During last year's hurricane season, wave heights exceeded 100 feet. A wave would have to be larger than that, and just as wide, with other waves following it, to roll and capsize a ship, he said. But ocean physics don't support that.
"Now if the weather conditions are such that you have two giant storms coming from opposite directions, which is a very rare event, it's conceivable you could see higher waves," he said.
That's a different Wolfgang Petersen film - "The Perfect Storm."
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 11 May 2006 )
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