Worst Weather Ever?

[MajSteve]

My Uncle Dave, (RIP), was a US Merchant Marine lieutenant during WWII and served in convoy duty in the North Atlantic. He used to tell us stories about the many storms he sailed through. Fortunately, he survived and returned home safely and continued his nautical career as an officer on freighters on the Great Lakes here in the USA and Canada. He said the only time he was really scared in a storm was on Lake Superior in November. (Remember the "Edmund Fitzgerald"?)  Worse than anything he witnessed in the Atlantic. (OK, I know this is borderline off-topic, but maybe helpful. It could always get worse!)

Edited February 19 by MajSteve

[Heidi13]

Defining the worst weather is a challenging task, due the number of variables, which can also include a person's rank/rating/position on the ship.

 

Many will automatically think of the strongest winds, or the reported steepest seas, but how many would consider extended periods of dense fog. Probably not passengers or ratings, but for the Master, spending days in fog, with your continuous presence on the Bridge being required, isn't fun. Throw in docking multiple times per day and the days just got worse. Yes, we have radar, but based on the technology, radar works best on clear days and is degraded by water vapour suspended in the air. Some radar systems handle this better than others, which can also be a challenge, as with calm seas the better systems pick up anything floating in the water. Since you can't see what is providing a return, you have to track and initially consider it a target.

 

Sea state is what most will consider, but again you have many variables. Wind waves are created by the current wind and the wave height corresponds to the wind speed, the distance the wind blows over the water and the water depth. Therefore, high wind speed in itself doesn't guarantee high waves. In addition to wind waves, you also need to consider swell(s), which are the resultant wave from distance winds, which can be 1,000 + miles away. You can also experience multiple swells and wind waves, creating confused seas. In addition to wave height, you also have to consider the wave period, which is the time between them.

 

Even in similar sea states, different ships can handle the seas differently, depending on whether they are stiff or tender, which impacts the rolling characteristics. A tender ship, with a lower Metacentric Height (GM) rolls easily, reaches further over and returns upright slowly. In general, it has a longer, but gentle roll. A stiff ship, with a higher GM does not roll as far, but snaps back quickly. Most cruise ship have a GM tending towards a tender ship. However, this can be impacted by the quantity of bunkers and fresh water, and the state of the pools.

 

Cargo ships GM varies based on the weight of the distributed cargo. Weight low increases the GM making a stiff ship, while weight higher makes for a tender ship.

 

With respect to my worst weather in 40 yrs at sea, I have numerous examples, but cannot stipulate that 1 was clearly the worst.

 - Cargo ship: loaded a significant quantity of steel plate in the lower hold, at initial loading port, but had minimal additional cargo in that port to load higher, to manage the GM. We sailed with a huge GM and in moderate seas and about 25 kts of wind, in the North Sea, we had my most uncomfortable sailing. A really stiff ship, even in moderate seas, can be extremely uncomfortable.

 - Reefer: crossing the indian Ocean, experienced a significant swell left over from a recent Tropical Revolving Storm (Typhoon), but had minimal wind waves. With no stabalisers and the swell on the beam, we rolled 45 degrees for a number of days, maintaining 20+ kts. Slept with the mattress on the deck, with 1 edge propped up on lifejackets and had no hot food for a couple of days.

 - Tanker: North Pacific Ocean, experienced a severe storm, so "Hove-to" for 3-days. We got pushed back 30 miles during those 3-days

 - Pax vessel: Gulf of Tehuantepec, experienced significant wind and swell. Significant damage to structural steel on the focsle, including complete destruction of the officer's speed boat

 - Pax vessel: arrival San Francisco, experienced significant waves with a short period. Broke 3 of the fwd lower lounge windows.

 - Pax vessel: fog, spent 3 continuous days in dense fog, working extra hours on the Bridge peering into a radar. As a deck officer, we at least got more breaks than the Master/DC, one of whom were on the Bridge continuously

 - Ro/Pax: fog, spent about 1 week working in continuous dense fog, as a Master, docking 4 x daily. Couldn't see the berth when docked, either bow in or stern in. The reduced speed added many hours to the working day.

 - Ro/Pax: docking in 60 kt winds, with additional tidal action off the berth, when the vessel had sufficient power to handle about 33 kts.

 

I have never sailed the Great Lakes, but they do have sufficient combination of wind speed and fetch to provide almost similar sea state conditions, as can be experienced mid-ocean.

 

 

[MajSteve]

Thank you so much for your thorough descriptions of your career and weather! I think you and my late Uncle Dave could have had some great conversations! I plan to study your post at greater depth (no pun intended) over the next few days. Again, thanks for both your reply and service in a great industry.

[MBP&O2/O]

Similar story here. Tanker post-typhoon. Rolling endlessly for several days. No hot food. Not allowed to sit down on watch so it somewhat uncomfortable 🤭

Reefers in 'owt but a calm sea .... N Atlantic in December was vile.

A few hours in an open lifeboat in a Force 7 - again post-typoon -  wasn't pleasant.🙂

[CGTNORMANDIE]

I’ve sailed through some mighty rough water…a hurricane on QE2…Storms off Cape Hatteris…a 135 mph microburst off Bermuda on RCI Jewell Of The Seas.   Some of the worst weather I’ve ever heard of was from a gentleman who had been in the Merchant Marine in WW II.  He had sailed the ominous run to Murmansk during the war.  He was on a freighter.  He told me he had been through seas that were so rough that he was surrounded with a wall of water and could only see the sky if you looked directly up!  The run to Murmansk was, without a doubt, the most dangerous convoy duty there ever was.  Those merchant seamen were heroes.  

[vunico]

Great tales...thanks to all !