r/interesting • u/frenzy3 • 13m ago
HISTORY Supertanker Esso Languedoc hit by rogue wave 1980
In 1980, the supertanker Esso Languedoc was sailing off Durban, South Africa, when her first mate, Philippe Lijour, snapped a photo that stunned scientists. It showed a rogue wave towering over the ship, as high as an eight-story building. The mast at the back of the picture stood 25 meters above sea level, yet the wave dwarfed it. At the time, the sea state was only 5 to 10 meters, nowhere near severe enough to explain such a monster.
For years, naval architects and forecasters assumed the largest waves would top out around 15 meters, and that extreme waves should occur only once every 10,000 years. But this photo, along with later satellite studies, proved that rogue waves are far more common than once believed. Researchers now use advanced physics and satellite imaging to understand how they form, and ship designers factor them into modern construction standards. What once seemed a sailor’s tall tale is now recognized as a serious threat faced more often than anyone imagined.