Former US Navy officer here. I took an Arleigh Burke destroyer through a category 3 hurricane. It was simultaneously the most memorable and least pleasant experience of my life.

Spent 20 years in the Navy. Most of the swells in this video are pretty common fare in storms at sea. I've seen far bigger. We went thru a class 5 super-typhoon between Hong Kong & Singapore once. The bow of the ship dipped under the water so frequently we felt like a submarine. I remember being on the bridge and hitting one swell so hard (or it hit us so hard) that part of the metal railing broke off and went flying past the bridge wing. But the REAL scary part of a storm happens below-decks, under the waterline, where most of the berthing & engineering spaces are. Some waves hit so hard you'd swear a whale ran into the side of the ship, right next to your bed (rack). You learn to sleep thru it. Sort of. Fun times. Glad to be retired :)

One of my biggest disaster fears is being on a boat/ship during bad weather with massive waves. The thought of it is so frightening to me I almost consider it a phobia

It's absolutely amazing that humans back in the 1400's were able to sail a little wooden ship across the Atlantic Ocean!

Very good narration, no silly music and no excessive talk, just the facts clearly told. Excellent video.

I rarely add any comments but I have to say, as a sailor, this video is very well done. Thank you for leaving the videos in-tact and for NOT adding stupid music or annoying "trying to act cool" narration. Makes me want to go check out your other videos too! And thank you to the guys who have shared their stories in the comments below. Brings back a lot of memories for me. I SO wish we had these fancy camera phones when I was out there... Imagine all the great stuff we could have captured on film, "back in the day", before the lawyers, bankers, etc, made us less likely to say 'screw the weather' [report] and just go for it. When I was young, I just assumed I would die out there. Again, great work and thank you for sharing these clips!

Did we do a better job with this Big Wave video than the last? Let us know!

Its amazing how prehistoric people traveled across oceans and reached new continents with just simple boats

It's truly amazing that these oil rigs are just out there in the oceans, subjected to salt water, storms, and waves, yet they still rarely cause any trouble. Sure, every once in a while you hear about an oil spill, but given the number of oil rigs around the world, I really applaude the engineers and scientists who made them so reliable and sturdy.

I was a captain for 22 years of a smaller cruise ship, and I ended in a sudden big storm 100 miles from the Turkish & Greek coast in 2005. There were moments i thought I was going to lose control but that were some scary 30 minutes of my life.

Let's applaud the engineers designing these ships that don't break when repeatedly slamming down from the crests of 4-story high waves!

Makes you appreciate the bravery and stamina of those who choose a life at sea! Who bring us all the things we need or participate in the naval defense of their nations. Hats off ❤

It's incredible too me that these super long tankers can withstand the stresses of being tossed around without breaking in half. The engineering that can design something that big without it failing in these conditions is amazing.

Having been an RNLI volunteer crewman for years and based at a North Sea facing station, going out in very heavy seas is both exhilarating and scary in equal measures! Although the conditions are not always like that, sometimes its just beautiful. If anyone is thinking of joining us as lifeboat crew, shore crew or anything else, I would absolutely say go for it, it is the best thing I have ever done and love it! Also, and much more importantly, you get to help people and save lives. There's not much better than that.

The images of the oil rig (#4) reminded me of what my father went through back in 1965. Dad (Don Gillespie) was under contract with Shell Oil and was a diesel engineer. He was stationed in The Netherlands while a drilling rig (Transworld 58) was being built and helped in its construction. It was a large, semi-submersible rig and upon completion, the rig was connected to the world's largest ocean-going tug boat (a Dutch ship) for it's voyage to Angola, Africa (where it would eventually drill for oil off the coast of Province of Cabinda). Dad was on the rig from the time it left Rotterdam along with a small crew to make sure everything stayed lashed down and tight for the voyage. He was an old US Navy man that served in the So. Pacific in WWII on a mine sweeper so he was not unfamiliar with bobbing around in the water like a top but they hit one of those big storms in the North Sea and he said it almost tore the drilling rig in half. At one point, he was going between buildings on the deck and was almost washed overboard, fell and broke his arm but he stayed on deck. After a few days, they finally made it out of the North Sea and had a fairly uneventful cruise down to Dakar, Senegal where they had to put in for repairs which took a few weeks. They eventually made it to Angola (at the time it was a colony of Portugal) where the Dutch were in a hurry to disconnect from the rig and get out of Angolan waters. This was because there were about 400 years of bad blood between the Dutch and the Portuguese over the possession of Angola. Dad thought it was amusing how the Dutch were behaving in their haste to get out of there. A side note, my mother and I eventually joined my father in Angola and lived in Luanda for a year, a great experience for a 15 year old.

We experienced ‘moderate’ seas last year in the Bay of Biscay onboard a cruise ship, but it was nothing in comparison to some of these clips - absolutely remarkable!

Spent 30 years in Merchant Marine on tankers primarily in the Gulf of Alaska. Largest waves I were well over a hundred feet with swells from numerous directions in Cat 5 winds near 160 mph. Some in loaded conditions and some in ballast in ships from 700' to 1000' length. Not fun at the time but I have to admit, I sometimes miss those days.

As a former retired navy vet... I have had my share of riding through hurricanes and tsunamis. I have lost count on how many hurricanes and tsunamis I have been through... However the worst was in 1992 in Hawaii. That horrible hurricane was the worst to hit the islands. It destroyed the island of Kauai. I was on a helo carrier then and doing 45 to 55 degree rolls from side to side and backwards and forwards...

It also makes you realise how tough & strong the Vikings were to have sailed so many times from Scandinavia to Northumberland across the North Sea in their longboats Its a tribute to their magnificent boat making skills & craftsmanship along with expert navigating & sailing too. Id be terrified to meet those waves & the sheer freezing conditions in just a Longship They must have been mighty Men indeed.

I was in the US Navy in the early 70s. We went through a category 5 typhoon that was one of the largest storms in history outside of Hong Kong. It took four days to ride out this storm. The waves were enormous. The waves in this video are not nearly as large or scary. I wish I had video footage of it.

To see ocean waves like this up close would be one of the most invigorating and indifferent experiences for me, ever. If I were to go on a fishing boat and get stuck in a storm, open sea, I could imagine how empowering it feels to survive this kind of weather!

Can’t imagine how older ships back in medieval times had to go through

I worked on Cruise ships for 9 years, faced a lot of rough seas, but the ships were so advanced that they mostly avoided stormy seas.

I was in one (more than one) worse than this in the USN in the 90s. I believe it was '97 we were near Australia's east coast but still considerably out to sea... and going through a hurricane (Georgez? sp). The flight deck was 70' above the water line and the waves were routinely going 30 or 40 feet over it. One night about midnight we caught a sideways wave that tipped us beyond 45 degrees. Luckily almost everyone was in the bunks or secured because only one guy got hurt (broken arm). Two helos came loose in the hangar bay and rolled round a while. Somewhat humorously (in retrospect) the journalists had a brand new large printer capable of producing books and stuff automated. They were very proud of it... but none one welded it to the deck or bolted it soo... it goes crashing through false bulkhead and got smashed up. It was so crazy. You could time it right and just fly up like 30 stairs in a second because of pitch changes.

Seeing that tsunami wave and how it approached that ship was one of the most surreal and incredible pieces of footage I have ever seen.. to see that devastating force of nature and how it looks out in open water was incredible. I must've watched it for or five times. That is something truly rare and special to capture on film and makes me grasp just how devastating something like that can be. Imagine how many gallons of water are being forcibly pushed in that clip. Absolutely unreal.

Is anyone else just so mesmerized by waves. Idk if it’s just me but I could watch them for hours

A rogue wave sunk my grandfather's minesweeper (YMS-421) off Okinawa in 1945. I cannot imagine what it must have been like fighting a storm like that, and even more so, the terror of having your ship go down...

Sailors are very brave people. May God protect all sailors.

That tsunami one was a bit haunting. Just seeing it on the horizon, going over it like it was nothing, knowing that if it hit the coast it'd cause untold amounts of damage, spooky.

The Great Lakes are ponds compared to the world's oceans, but they still sank many a ship & freighter over a couple of centuries. I spent my summers as a child/teen nearby the shore of northern Lake Michigan, and often watched as many storms would appear on the horizon as a widening black line of a front from Wisconsin, even when the mornings and early afternoons had been sunny, warm, and clear sky. You cannot see all of the way across the horizontally narrow big lake, even with powerful binoculars. A nearby resort town celebrated the 4th of July every year by staging a fireworks display over their bay btw breakwalls, but one year a sudden storm on the lake hit just as the volunteer fire crew launched the first firework...lol. The storm front looked JUST like a monster wave in the evening sky, and even curled like a bigly breaker as it approached the shoreline. Everyone in attendance RAN for their lives, but lost much of what they brought along to the huge beach to watch the fireworks, from the gale+ force winds. Further inland a couple of F2 tornados touched down but fortunately only in forested and farmland areas.

The North Sea is unbelievably rough, being on board a ship sailing these routes can be a unpleasant experience if you don't have good sea legs. I've done a few city breaks from England to Holland, Denmark and Germany and I can confirm that the waves are chuffing enormous!

Good review of just how massive and unpredictable ocean waves can be. The only thing I find disappointing was that the #1 "wave" was just a "weight distribution on ships is important" warning.

This is the most terrifying experience ever!!! The ocean is sooooooo huge and waves are extremely dangerous!!!! Any brave soul that goes out and deals with this has my respect because I can’t! I don’t see the thrill of being out there! There’s not enough money in the world that would make me face this experience lol but I do appreciate them taking these risk so that we can experience them some kind of way! I do love the ocean and it’s very beautiful and terrifying and very interesting!

It’s insane to think how big and deep the ocean is that swells, even bigger than in this video, can happen out there. It’s terrifying. I give so much credit to these EMS vessels because id never be able to do that.

Those ships refered to as search and rescue are in general not out there to look for boats in distress. They are supply- and standby vessels for the oilrigs. They have big capacity when it comes to manouverability, towing, firefighting and handling rough weather. They are the lifeline for the rigs, and their safety net if things go bad.

I have a severe fear of being on a boat or ship in terrible weather with massive waves. Just the thought of it terrifies me to the point where I almost classify it as a phobia

Going straight toward the wave seems scary, yet if it hits your side, it would probably be a much worse situation.

The north sea can really get very rough . When ferry services between the UK and the Netherlands and Germany (Hamburg ) were quite common , north sea storms were relatively common and the aftermath of the sea sickness by many people was not pleasant lol

Spent 6 years on a small destroyer and went through several typhoons. Plowed through the Bering Sea around the Aleutians in winter. I'm here to tell you only a few shown in this video come close. It's difficult to put into words the misery and fear that goes on for days when the sea turns the minutes to hours.

Man I feel an urge to sail the North Sea again in a good storm. Our native waters sometimes make you feel very small and it feels like an accomplishment to complete the voyage safely.

I don’t know man…. I’ve seen 40-50+ footers crashing on shore and over a barrier island…. I can only say it’s absolutely horrifying. Even knowing your completely safe from it, just witnessing it gives you ENORMOUS RESPECT for the power of wind and water….

Vikings sailed the North Sea and Atlantic in wooden longboats. Pretty impressive once you think about it.

Took a cruise on a fairly small ship (128 passenger limit) we were heading south from Ketchikan down to Seattle. In the area North of Vancouver Island where we were exposed to the ocean we ran into a heavy storm. My wife and I went down below for dinner. Looking out the windows as we rode up and down the waves we watched the water run well over the top of the windows. My wife started feeling feeling sick and went up to our room. Our table which normally seated eight was left with me and the oldest couple on the boat eating as much as we wanted. Heading back up I checked the lounge area. Water climbing over the bow was running under the doors and an area set off to the side for refreshments also had been damaged. The storm eased off some but as we reached what I thought was sheltered water behind Vancouver Island we seemed to slow down and I decided to go back to our room to see how my wife was doing. She seemed to be fine and she asked me why we turned around and i just looked at her. What? We turned around. I just shook my head and we both went outside and sure enough she was right. Checked with a crew member who said that the captain changed course to stop fighting the wind and currents that were pushing us back. Storm and all this was the best cruise that I've been on

The cruise ship people were terrified and feared for their life. In the Navy we called it Tuesday. I have pictures of 60 ft waves that we hit on the USS Grand Canyon in the North Atlantic in late March before we went to condition zebra and shut everything down as it was getting worse. There was a tiny minesweeper next to us that would actually disappear when the waves hit. Excellent ride.

My 35 foot sailboat sailed through 30 foot seas in the North Pacific in October, between Honolulu and Seattle. I had to man the tiller in these great seas, as nobody else could manage the forces on the helm. We surfed down these huge waves like a surfer on a surf board. The wind was not so high, Force 7, but the fetch, the distance across the wind blew, was 5,000 miles.

Tremendous respect for the captains and crew. Real men and women!

Very interesting observing the waves, but would have been interesting to hear how high the swells and waves were.

The last ship, Was the only one that was in the most DANGER. I know this for a fact. I’m a retired US Merchant Marine Captain. Graduated from the United States Merchant Marine Academy, class of 74. This ship was taking easily, 40 to 48 degree rolls. Which is damn well dangerous of going over to far, and not coming back, from the roll. Going right on over!!!

Imagine being employed to a rescue ship who only has to go out in storms. They are so brave ! Salute !

So cool that we’ve built ships to withstand these waves and conditions.

Thinking about the Scandinavians who successfully sailed the North Atlantic in relatively small wooden boats all the way to Greenland and Iceland: Impressive boats, superb sailors and a lot of luck.

The tsunami video is SO surreal! I lived in Japan and my family and I were at home during the tsunami- it didn’t hit the part of the island we lived on but the earthquakes were horrifying and I remember every second. We moved to the states only days after.

Will never forget staring out at the North Sea from the lighthouse in Berwick Upon Tweed, and seeing the tiny lights of ships in the distance. You can absolutely sense how terrifying it can be out there, and the comments from all these naval officers and fishermen saying "meh, I've seen worse" confirms it. Good lord!

Great footage. The oil rig situation would really freak me out. Unlike a ship, wherein you might be able to execute some sort of a maneuver to avoid disaster, the oil rig platform is strictly at the whim of the waves! As for the rescue ships; I can’t imagine how they could actually help or rescue any other ship in peril, as both ships would be being tossed by those huge waves! Thanks for this video!

The ocean is so beautiful and at the same time it can be deadly.

Water is such a fascinating element! It can be soothing and gentle, but it can also gather an incredibly fierce and destructive power

my cousin was in the navy, and they worked 16-18 hour days at the time (not sure if they still do. during his time in the navy, he was just on ships and eventually went awol , abandoning the military and running. anyway. constantly tells stories about the horrible storms he had to work in , and the waves they went over

The display of the power of waves was like a nightmare, to say the least. Had I been on board on any of the ships, I would certainly have had a cardiac arrest. Men who work in such conditions must be having titanium nerves. Some waves really made my heart skip a beat or two.

I work in the gulf, I’m an engineer on a crew boat and I’m a captain in training. We once were passing the Mississippi delta area heading to an are south of Alabama and he fell off rouge wave during a storm, the water came thru our anchor holes and hit our rope locker so hard that the lid to the locker tore completely off, it literally tore the welds at the seams and the 120 pound lid flew up and landed on the bridge catwalk. Fucking terrifying yet awesome.

It must be so difficult and intense to be a deep sea sailor, couldn’t imagine

The tsunami footage was unreal. I took a class on pacific rim natural disasters in college and tsunamis were one of the things we covered. It was the coolest class and I learned so much valuable info about volcanoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, etc. I’ve never seen a tsunami at sea coming in like that. Holy smokes how scary!! The entire horizon is elevated and coming at you….and you know wherever it hits landfall it’s gonna destroy everything. That was incredible and terrifying.

Seeing such waves only lets you think to yourself and have massive respect for sailors, trying to get out of there as safe as possible. Many of these ships bring our goods and food from point A to point B, trying to stay alive while leaving their loved ones at home.

I live him Hawai’i so I’ve seen some impressive waves, especially during hurricanes. But some of the waves in this video are just insane. Can’t imagine seeing them in person.

Brings me back to my days as a master helmsman in the US Navy. Yes it is correct the North Sea is very rough i remember sailing through a storm on a flat bottomed amphib It was a challenge to even stand behind the Helm without falling.

Another scary thing about the tsunami is that those people on the ship are looking at what could have potentially killed them

Gotta love the attitudes of the search and rescue guys. At 5:44 (ish) they go over the top of a huge wave with a massive splash over. The only reaction seems to be the captain casually hitting the "mist" button for the wipers a few seconds later. Legendary.

I’ve swam in the North Sea multiple times. Never had any idea just how terrifying it clearly is!!! 😂😂😂😂

I’m terrified of being on a vessel in winter on the North Sea. The thought of falling overboard without a life preserver gives me.nightmares. A similar occurrence giving me nightmares came after watching video of a tanker that was designed for the calm travel along some of Europe’s and the Middle East’s waterways but who’s captain decided to take out in the rough seas of the open ocean. The tanker climbed a big wave and at the crest it simply broke in half instantly killing everyone under deck. Just horrifying 😮

I was a deckhand on a crabbing boat in the Bering sea for 2 years and some waves we got hit with were utterly terrifying

Imagine being on a beach and seeing a wave like those coming towards you on a dark and stormy night Phew makes me shiver😅

My GRANDFATHER SAILED 3/4 AROUND THE WORLD IN WW2 IN THE NAVY & COAST GUARD HE HAD TOLD ME ALOT OF AMAZING STORIES ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS OUT THERE.

Ok, now you KNOW that those waves pounding that oil rig have to be insanely powerful. Those oil rigs usually weigh thousands of tons, and for it to be bouncing around like that, that's just insane. No way in hell could you get me to be on one of those during an intense storm like that, and all this time I thought oil rigs were stationary, and that they didn't move, wow!

I've sailed the north sea with a rescue ship when i was younger. I remember how i was often totally exhausted from just trying to stand up or walk around to do my work. Being thrown around for days takes a lot of you physically and mentally.

I live on a beach. I have been through hurricanes 🌀. I have swam in large waves.i have been on boats. I adore the Gulf,the ocean and have tremendous respect for its beauty and massive power.

I was on an LHA on our way to Norway, we were ordered to stay below decks during a bad storm, I was told the next day that the waves were breaking over the flight deck, 5 stories above the waterline...intense to say the least!

Watching this brings me back memories of sailing thru the east blue and moving into the red line to go into the grand line. I remember seeing violent knock up streams shoot into the sky and even almost running course into the calm belt.

Can’t imagine being lost at sea and getting in a storm like that

the north Sea is very shallow, sometimes as much as 30 feet deep, so the waves can be extraordinarily high and for long distances . 100ft waves are common out there, and it shows how the Vikings and later North sea nations managed to conquer the world

Now i think of those sailors thousands of years ago... Dark frozen nights, monster waves breaking their ships and whole crews dying without their families ever knowing what happened... the sea is a terrifying place...

The ocean is absolutely terrifying. I dont care what anyone says lol. I have nightmares about this exact stuff happening.

That last clip 😮 shout out to anyone with the balls to go on or captain these boats in those conditions 👏

I have a massive fear of open water, just watching these clips give me so much anxiety

Sailing in the ocean is terrifyingly beautiful. It’s one of my biggest fears that I’m most curious about. Ocean makes you realize how insignificant and minor you are. I love it.

Imagine the Vikings crossing the North Sea [or German Sea as it was called] in these storms.Also the Murmansk convoys in WW2 as portrayed in the excellent book "HMS Ulysses" by Alasdair MacLean.

I am astounded and grateful to the crews of these vessels. And the testicular fortitude they must have!

The north sea is known for having some of the roughest and largest waves despite not being any kind of large ocean

I was in the Coast Guard for many years and have seen waves larger than these! Rode out several hurricanes, mostly in the North Atlantic and once on Lake Michigan.

Imagine going through this in a wooden ship in old times.

Human ingenuity is so underrated at times.....The engineering of these vessels and rigs is absolutely stunning.

Rogue waves are the scariest part of sailing. I was serving on an aircraft carrier back in 04. And we got hit by a rogue wave. Killed a sailor and did some structural damage to the ship. It just came out of nowhere.

The Tsumani Wave was horrifying to watch. I wonder what was going through the captain and crew's mind knowing the damage it would cause on land.

Mother Nature. So gorgeous. Hurricanes, tornados, ocean waves, fire....they're all just mesmerizing.

5:24 if this was safe, I would 100% love being there, looks so cool

The islands I come from we deal with the Warm sea currents and the artic currents, it can make pretty messed up waves at shore. When you as a kid see the ocean drag boulders that weight a house into the shore you know it's something not to mess with.

My father was part of an operation to find a missing commercial flight near the philippines. There were survey vessels all over, he was a crew member in one of them. At the time they were looking for the missing plane remains, there was a huge storm (maybe it was a hurricane, I dont remember) that came also with big waves. He told me the waves were so big, their ships could be like 80% under water at times, and instruments would often get wiped by the waves. literally, there were rescue vessels for the rescue vessels for the survey vessels. The scariest part is that, some captains would often report false damaged structure just so they could avoid going into the storm. think about it, most of these people did those missions all the time, the fact that they started to refuse going into the storms says it all…

I ended up on a small fishing charter a few weeks ago (like a lobster boat size) and encountered about 8ft swells for about 3 hours about 25 miles out in the northern Atlantic. I normally don’t get seasick but that jacked me up and it was a literal hell. It was cold, wet, dark, and you couldn’t stand up at all or stay on deck because of how rough it was. And seasickness gets worse indoors. It was hell I tell ya!!

Spent a few years at Sea when I was young, 16-19 as a fisherman saw some large waves probably nothing like what the Navy lads see, waves are relative to the size of the ship you are in. Big waves like that in a 50ft fishing boat yeah not a fun time. You get moved like you are surfing them rather then sailing on them. We went deep sea in the Indian Ocean and I’ve experienced moderately rough in Bass strait and the Pacific. The sea has my respect. She can be a beast.

Great video! I love all the supplemental information about the seas.

I don’t know how I found my way to this video, youtube recommended, I decided to watch. As someone who hardly ever travels off land I still feel a bit seasick just from watching this video. A couple of years back I took an overnight sailing from Southampton to France in December, the main thing I remember is trying to sleep with the ship rocking from side to side, one moment my head was pointed up to the night sky, the next my feet were… it took me a full day to recover and stop feeling sick.

Because living at the southern point of Africa can also provide some unexpected rough seas and with harbours close to our city we often see stuff wash up. In the few years I've been here we have seen a few oil spills, oranges - thousands and thousands and thousands of oranges (apparently a few containers went swimming), flip flops and all kinds of stuff from ships that pass in the night like foreign juice bottles etc.