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Seaquakes
Article #164
by T. Neil Davis
What is an earthquake like at sea? Almost universally, reports by people on ships tell of having thought that the ship had run aground. Rumbling, grating sensations and horrifying rattling of ship superstructures are reported. The noises often appear to come mainly from the bottom of the ship, and there is fear that the ship is breaking up.
Evidently, strong earthquake waves traveling below the ocean floor start compressional wave trains (like sound waves in air) that travel upward through the water at a steep angle. Striking the ship bottom, these waves apparently cause no real damage to the ship.
Much more to be feared by seamen traveling near a shore are the giant tsunami waves generated by nearby or distant earthquakes. In 185S, while traveling near Peru, the unfortunate captian of the U. S. gunboat Wateree was forced to abandon ship after a tsunami deposited his vessel on its flat bottom, two miles inland.
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