And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaming.
—Rev. 21:25
7277 Tides And Earth-Bending
The moon is 240,000 miles away, and the tides twice a day are usually a gentle reminder of its presence. Tides of the ocean run as high as 60 feet in some places, and even the crust of the earth is twice a day bent outward several inches by the moon’s attraction. All seems so regular that we do not grasp to any degree the vast power that lifts the whole area of the ocean several feet and bends the crust of the earth, seemingly so solid.
7278 Braking The Earth
The drag of the tides brakes the earth’s rotation: our days are three hours longer than they were 400 million years ago; a billion years from now, they will be 30 hours long.
7279 Greatest Tide
The greatest tides on earth are in the Bay of Fundy near Maine and Nova Scotia. From an average of 47 feet, they could reach up to 53 feet.
7280 Highest Sea Wave
The highest sea wave officially recorded was seen from the USS Ramapo in the Pacific in 1933. The wave was computed to be 112 feet from trough to crest.
Measured with instruments, however, the record belongs to that recorded by the British Weather Advice in the North Atlantic in 1968. It came up 77 feet.
7281 Destructive Tidal Waves
It is said that from about 500 BC to 1967, there were 286 instances of devastating tsunami or tidal waves.
The highest recorded tsunami was off Valdez, Alaska, after the great Prince William Sound earthquake of 1964. That giant went up to 200 feet high.
7282 Warning Station Set Up
After the 1946 disaster, a tsunami warning system was set up in the Pacific—the ocean most affected. Seismographic stations distributed across the Pacific notify tidal stations whenever an earthquake is detected.
7283 Sudden Freak Waves
Mariners and meteorologists have not been able to account for the “freak” waves that sometimes sweep the sea. One captain was piloting a ship when it encountered what he estimated to be a 100-foot wave that came down on the ship with speed like an express train. He believes that such waves overwhelming some ships have caused their cargoes to list. The vessels then roll over without there being time for distress signals. He thinks this accounts for their disappearance without an inkling of what happened to them.
7284 Nuclear Bomb Off California
Scientists tell us that if a nuclear bomb were dropped about 100 miles off the shore line of California, its impact would generate a tidal wave such as man has never seen. The tidal wave of destructive water would be 800 feet high and would not stop until it covered one-third of the United States! Such a tidal wave could conceivably kill as many as 40 million people.
7285 Beating The Waves (Ancient)
When the force of the current had carried away the temporary bridge which Xerxes had caused to be thrown over the Hellespont, on his grand expedition into Greece, he was so enraged, that he not only ordered the heads of the workmen to be struck off, but, like a madman, inflicted lashes upon the sea, to punish it for its insolence. He, moreover, thought to hold it in future under his control by throwing fetters into it.
7286 Beating The Waves (Modern)
Recognizing that rough seas cause hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damages to U.S. coastal resorts and harbours every year, two marine experts at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have devised a new method of controlling the waves.
The stimulus for the new device came from Scripps Prof. John Isaacs, who theorized that ocean waves would lose much of their energy if they were to meet rows of spherical floats, tethered to the sea bed and floating close to the surface.
Graduate student Richard Seymour has tested the theory in a laboratory tank, using a scale model of Avalon Harbour, an area near Long Beach, California. The lab studies show that “spherical floats behave like upside-down pendulums. They are so designed that their own back-and-forth movement is faster than that of the ocean waves. Thus, as the waves roll in toward shore, the floats are already moving in the opposite direction. When they meet, the floats break up the waves, dissipating much of their energy.
“Instead of being more and more rigid, we are less and less so,” explains Isaacs. “The system beats the waves to death.”
7287 King Canute And Waves
King Canute, a Danish conqueror of Britain, was one day flattered by his courtiers on account of his power. Then he ordered his throne to be placed by the seaside. The tide was rolling in, and threatened to drown him. He commanded the waves to stop. Of course, they did not. Then he said to his flatterers, “Behold, how small is the might of kings!”
—Foster
7288 “Fear” As Injury
“Fear and fear alone” is an injury sufficient to cause death, according to a federal court jury in Seattle. Ralph Thompson, third mate on the steamship Chena, died of shock the day after his vessel was driven into the center of Valdez, Alaska, by a tidal wave. An insurance company refused to pay accidental death benefits because Thompson had suffered no apparent injuries. However, the court concluded that Thompson had died of fright and it held the company liable.
7289 Enlisting Atlantic’s Help
A great merchant ship was making its way over the Atlantic, bound for New York. At the mouth of the Hudson it got into difficulties and sank. Several attempts were made to refloat it, all in vain. An old captain approached the authorities, assuring them that if they gave him two empty ships, twenty men, and plenty of gearing, he would guarantee to them that before sundown of that day the sunken ship would be in harbor. This was granted.
Down the river they went. At low tide the two ships were brought to the sunken ship, one on each side. With strong ropes and thick chains they were bound to the sunken vessel. When that had been done to the satisfaction of the captain, he turned to his men and said: “Now we have done our part, the old Atlantic will do the rest.”
Gradually the tide came creeping in. The ropes creaked and the chains tightened. As wave after wave swelled, up came the wreck and the derelict was safely led into harbor between her guardian sisters.
—J. B. Dengis
7290 Package Floated To Exact Place
In December 1940, Mrs. A. E. Gadsby of Niagara Falls, Canada, mailed a Christmas parcel to her daughter in Prestwick, Scotland. The ship carrying the mails was torpedoed off the west coast of Ireland, but a favourable tide floated the package and unerringly cast it ashore on the beach of Prestwick. The contents were soaked but perfectly usable. The address was still legible and the package reached the addressee two days after Christmas.
See also : Seas and Oceans . Storms .