To Whom It May Concern:
We came across this information in the trades, in the form of a press
release, and thought it would be of interest to this newsgroup as well.
Could huge cruise ships such as Royal Caribbean's new freedom of the
eas -- almost as tall as the Empire State Building -- in real life get
turned upside down by a freak wave as portrayed in the just released film
"Poseidon?"
Not really, answers The New York Times.
In the film, a 150-foot wave strikes the luxury liner to roll it over.
Surviving passengers and crew then have to work their way through the
upturned ship to the ocean surface.
"A wave as large as 150 feet hasn't been observed; the largest is around 120
feet," said Dr. William Asher, an oceanographer at the University of
Washington.
Even with such a huge wave, however, modern ocean liners have safety systems
such as stabilizers that would prevent the ship from turning over.
There have never been reports of large ships capsizing from huge waves,
though they have destroyed container ships and have caused damage ocean
liners.
With modern equipment, even a Titanic-like iceberg collision is highly
unlikely, according to Dr. Asher.
John Sisker, Agency
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