For a long time the existence of huge waves that occur during calm weather, was denied, and only accidentally commit helped to start the research problem. But only now Australian researchers managed to obtain a so-called wave-killer in the laboratory.

The tragic fate of ships

Although the Portuguese told in his Chronicles of the existence of unreasonable huge waves breaking on the ship during calm weather, marine scientists believed that waves with a height of 20 meters and more impossible. Even a tsunami in the sea rarely exceed 1-1,5 meters, reaching a considerable height and destructive force only at coast.

However seafarers with waves-murderers met regularly.

Their distinctive feature - a cool front slope, followed by gentle hollow. However, they sometimes occur even in relatively calm seas.

This is how the meeting with the wave-killer of officer of the British cruiser "Birmingham" I. Johnston. "We were about 100 miles southwest from Durban. The cruiser was quickly and almost without pitching, when suddenly, we fell into a pit and rushed down to meet the next wave that swept through the first gun turret and fell on our outdoor bridge. I was knocked down and at a height of 10 meters above sea level was in a half-meter layer of water. The ship suffered a blow that many thought that the us torpedoed. The captain immediately reduced the move, but these precautions were in vain, as moderate conditions swimming recovered and more "Yam" was not found".

The cruiser "Birmingham" lucky. However, the fate of many other ships, "met" with the wave-killer, was much more tragic. For example, in 1909 close to the Cape of Good Hope from such waves sank the ship "Write", 211 its passengers were killed.

In an unlucky 13 June 1968 with the wave-killer faced and the supertanker "world of glory", EN route from Kuwait in the Spanish port of Huelva. Exactly at 14 hours 55 minutes from nowhere appeared a giant wave height of 20 meters lifted the middle of the tanker, and his bow and stern hung in the air. The hull of the vessel impacted on the deck near the front of the add-in was cracked.

Soon the next wave-killer stuck his nose tankers up, he slipped case, and the two halves of the ship began to disperse. By 19 o "world of glory" has sunk.

After the incident with the oil tanker accident in the area began to occur almost every year. This danger was subjected to trial, even the most perfect construction. Thus, on August 1, 1973 wave-killer struck newest ship "Neptune Sapphire". The impact was of such force that the nose of Neptune" with the length of 61 m wrenched from the building, and ship immediately went to the bottom.

The experiment in laboratory pool

Of course, after that oceanographers finally believed in the existence of freak waves, they began to notice more and more often, and it turned out that this is quite common, capable of completely destroying ships with displacement of up to 45 thousand tons, or flushing drilling platforms together with staff.

The research team, led by Professor Neil Ahmedovym of the Australian national University, conducted an experiment to better understand the mechanism of occurrence of waves and their potential properties.

In ordinary laboratory pool, reports Compulenta, using special wave generator and "target" in the form of a toy pirate toy raft, scientists have created what they call "supervolume-killers".

The results of the first experience stunned researchers! Was that really possible waves, five times exceeding the maximum height of the normal waves, which are called the standard reasons.

"Soliton, structurally stable solitary wave propagating in a nonlinear medium - that is, in the opinion of women pedagogical, reproduced them in the laboratory "supervalu-killer". In optics soliton was obtained back in 2010

As the researchers note, to obtain documentary evidence of such phenomena is very difficult. The ship is covered by the ordinary wave-killer, under pressure up to 10 ATM, well, "supervalu-killer" in the open sea, most likely, never leaves living witnesses.

Scientists believe that this and future experiments will help better understand the nature of large and very large waves of this kind and at least to some extent, minimize the interaction of courts with them in the future. In addition, the understanding of the boundaries of the opportunities of huge waves could lead to the elaboration of such strength requirements for the hulls of ships and drilling platforms that would provide them with at least some probability of survival when confronted with the same phenomenon.

Fatal whirlpools

Another terrible mystery of the oceans, the solution of which today are scientists, are the so-called funnel of the devil!

In the summer of 1913 in the Barents sea training campaign was moving squad of five Russian and British ships. Suddenly English dreadnought "Elizabeth III frantically began to spin in one place and just a few minutes disappeared in a giant whirlpool.

The commander of the Russian cruiser "Diana", which witnessed the incredible disaster, described what happened in the ship log book: "It was horrible beyond description. The dreadnought, able to withstand any rocking and successfully demonstrated their driving performance in the southern and Northern seas, not once had been in the storm, went under water with the whole team before our eyes, without the slightest hope of salvation."

Unbelievable but true: rescue vessels, soon arrived on the scene of the tragedy, had not found any traces of the flood "Elizabeth"...

And then came the First world war and the tragedy in the Barents sea was forgotten and remembered only ten years later, when on the West coast of Australia sailors found in the coastal village lifeline from the dead ship. Local residents recalled that he was thrown wave somewhere in the middle of the summer of 1913.

Some time later there were discovered and other remains of the ship's property "Elizabeth", but... on the West coast of the USA! According to eyewitnesses, they hit on the American shore at about the same time as a lifeline with dreadnought on the Australian coast!

Marine annals kept in dozens of such inexplicable cases. And almost always remains clenched into the vortex of the courts find it anywhere, but only not on the place of death.

According to one version, the funnel of the devil to communicate through a kind of channels that are in the earth shell under the bottom of the seas and oceans.

According to this theory, the movement of huge water masses on these "channels" is like the sea tides and low tides. Towards pan, water and forms a funnel with whirlpools, can bring to bear in the other end of the planet entire ships.

Act as a funnel of the devil only under certain weather conditions. If on two areas atmospheric pressure is the same, then in the "communicating vessels" a balance of forces and anomalies are observed. But if in one area, for example, the pressure drops and the other not, there rushes huge mass of sea water through an underground channel. Excess pressure in neighboring areas causes the opposite movement of water masses...

Abnormal news №29 (605) 2012