hulled or capsized, particularly if she encountered another rogue wave. Stolt Surf limped into port a week later on 26 October. Consequence The evidence in the photographs showed abnormally large waves out in the deep ocean, where science, using the linear model, had predicted that such extreme waves were extremely rare, to the extent that a crest-to-trough wave would occur only once every 10,000 years. The proof gathered by Stolt Surf joined a growing body of evidence that the linear model did not adequately explain all of the types of waves that could be encountered. The loss of MS München in a storm in the North Atlantic the following year was attributed to an 'unknown event', but was later considered to be one of the first losses that could be confidently attributed to a freak wave. Despite this, it was not until the separate encounters by the cruise liners Bremen and Caledonian Star in the South Atlantic, that the possibility of nonlinear causes of freak waves was seriously considered. The resulting theories helped to explain the possible causes of the freak waves encountered by Stolt Surf. Fate Stolt Surf was sold in India in March 2000, and broken up for scrap. Stolt Surfs name was perpetuated in a new tanker built for Stolt-Nielsen and launched in 2000. This vessel has a deadweight tonnage value of 22,219, and is registered in George Town, Cayman Islands. References Citations Sources Paul C. Liu, A Chronology of Freaque Wave Encounters, Geofizika, Vol 24. No 1. 2007 The Stolt Surf's chief engineer's accounts and photographs of the waves Article in the New York Times on freak waves, with reference to the Stolt Surf BBC Horizon's Freak Waves episode, first shown: BBC Two, Thursday 14 November 2002 BBC Horizon's freak wave page Rogue wave incidents Maritime incidents in 1977 Chemical tankers Merchant ships of Sweden Ships built in Gothenburg 1970 ships