Daily Event for January 1, 2008

On New Year's Eve 1972 an underwater earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale occurred 130 miles
northwest of Crete, the quake lasted 42 seconds. An aftershock measuring 3.6 lasting 10 seconds followed.
This caused a massive tidal wave which raced across the Sea of Crete in a northeast direction at a speed of
about 60 knots.

A short distance from the epicenter of the quake the SS Poseidon was approaching Athens, Greece on her final voyage. She was on the way to the breakers yard and was already three days late due to bad weather and a ballast pump which had failed. The owners representative, anxious to get the ship to port as soon as possible, ordered the captain to run the ship at full speed, which was against the captain's judgment. The problem was ballast, with the pump out of order the ship was top heavy and more ballast could not be taken on.

At one minuet after midnight the giant wave struck, capsizing the ship. Most of those on board perished with only a handful of survivors reaching the engine room where rescuers cut a hole in the bottom of the ship. Of course this was a movie called The Poseidon Adventure, however it was inspired by a true event.

In December of 1942 the passenger liner Queen Mary, stripped of her finery and painted gray, was being used as a troopship. She was 700 miles west of Scotland when she ran into a very strong storm. During the storm a rogue wave hit the ship which caused her to roll to an astonishing 52°. The crew believed she was going to capsize and experts say if she had gone over another 3° she would have. Had this occurred it could have been the greatest disaster in maritime history, she was carrying over 16,000 U. S. troops to Europe at the time. Good provence, and perhaps with a helping hand from above, the Queen Mary righted herself without further incident. It is estimated that the wave that hit the ship was in excess of 90' this because some of the windows on the bridge were broken out and several lifeboats on the boat deck were damaged.

In the 1972 movie The Poseidon Adventure, the Queen Mary herself was used to film many of the on board
scenes, a strange twist of fate.
© 2008 Michael W. Pocock
MaritimeQuest.com


The troopship Queen Mary.