Did the disciples encountered a freaque wave?

The Gospel reading today:

Jesus Calms the Storm

(Matthew 8:23-27)

Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Also: 

(Mark 4:35-41)

On that day, when evening had come, Jesus said to the disciples, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" 

So freaque waves had happened in the biblical time 2000 years ago. Now an interesting question would be: Did the disciples encountered a freaque wave or waves in that instance?  I don't think anyone can affirmatively provide an answer to this question.  The only thing that I can surmise is that if the instance happens somewhere in US today, one or two things might happen: (1) US main stream media will probably not going to report it, because Jesus is politically incorrect, and (2) if it become known by local people and Coast Guards and may be some journalists, in their general discussions on the case the term will most likely to bring up ( without mentioning the "Peace! Be still!"! of course!

A dog lost to Sea in New Zealand.

Here's a report from New Zealand:

A witness spotted a Jack Russell swimming for its life while being battered by massive waves off Dunedin.

People continue to comb the beaches between St Clair and St Kilda after the 15-year-old dog disappeared in heavy seas at about 2pm on Sunday.

Graeme Newton said he was walking in the area when he saw a woman on the beach, which was hit hard by heavy waves, "and I thought what the bloody hell is she doing?".

Later he spotted a dog in the water, "and it was getting hit by the white water again and again".

"I saw the dog trying to swim towards St Clair and I thought, 'good luck to it'."

He estimated the dog had been in the water for 10 minutes and later lost sight of it.

Those same waves had earlier brought down a large sand dune, "and just scoured huge chunks off".

He later scrambled around a slip to talk to the woman, who was obviously upset.

"I went up to her and said 'are you missing a dog'."

"She asked me if I had seen it and I said 'yes, but you are not going to like the outcome'."

The Otago Peninsula resident told him she had been on a dune when it gave way.

Another witness Anthony Legg also talked to the "distraught lady", later helping search for her dog.

He said the track [between the beaches] needed better signage from both ends to prevent people walking in the area, "because it could have been a kid who got washed away".

The track was clearly signposted from the southern end of St Clair beach.

Dunedin City councillor Andrew Whiley said the council was aware of the incident.

Contractors were repairing the area, he said. 

O.K. the story here is a dog was swept out by a freaque wave and did not survive on a beach that was hit hard by large waves. Was that a freaque wave?  That's not easy to say. So this may or may not be a freaque wave story.

  

Queen Mary's 1942 encounter revisited

I came across a reading material from Milwaukie High School entitled "Swallowers of Ships" with this description:

 1942: The clouds of war seem at their darkest for America and her allies against
Hitler's awesome Nazi military machine. Allied hopes hang on the slim thread of ship convoys
moving across the North Atlantic from the United States to Britain.

 Nazi U-boats constantly threaten Allied shipping. But in the late winter of 1942, Atlantic
storms are more menacing than anything the enemy can throw at the convoys.

 On this particular day, the English coast is wracked by a vicious gale. Some 700 miles
westward, the 81,237 ton liner Queen Mary labors through the storm toward England. On
board are 15,000 American soldiers. The majestic liner pounds her way through an
unrelenting train of 20 and 30 foot waves. Her captain and crew are grimly determined. They
have weathered North Atlantic storms as fierce as this before.

 Suddenly the sea seems to drop away alongside the Queen Mary. She is drawn into
the deep trough of a giant wave coming at her broadside. Looking up, the men on the bridge
cannot believe their eyes. Although they are located high above the ship's waterline, the
mountainous wave rises so high they cannot see its top. As the mass of water comes down
on them, its crest tears away in an avalanche of sea. The upper decks are under water. The
greater liner lists to one side. She is within inches of capsizing!

 At the time the London newspaper The Daily Mail reported: "...those who had sailed in
her since she first took to sea were convinced she never would right herself. Her safety
depended on no more than five degrees. Had she gone those inches farther to port, the
Queen Mary would have been no more."

 Miraculously the Queen Mary did not go under. A disaster worse than that of the
Titanic was narrowly avoided. Yet many ships since then have encountered giant waves and
have not been so lucky.

 Liner Queen Mary encountered a freaque wave is well known and legendary, but I never really noticed these much details ever given elsewhere as those reported here, especially that what they encountered was a deep trough! That's not something well known to my knowledge. Yes, deep trough is an integral part of freaque waves. Not all freaque waves are of Draupner type! That's something people may have difficulty to comprehend especially those nonlinear physicists thinking ocean freaque waves can be solved in optics!!

As a matter of fact, Dr. Al Beeton, our former beloved Director of GLERL also encountered a deep trough in Lake Michigan in the mid 1950's when he was a young scientist, piloting a small research vessel in eastern Lake Michigan near Luddington, Michigan when all of a sudden a deep trough appeared in front of his route and his boat just dropped into it. Fortunately no disaster ensued, so he can told me all the details about the encounter years latter. That's some valuable life's experience not many can expect to have and surviving a freaque wave encounter can not be appropriately and prominently listed as a life's accomplishment  -- but it WAS!  I really appreciate when Al learned about my interest in study freaque waves then eagerly told me all about it. Thanks, Al!