Sailors swore giant 'rogue waves' were real for centuries — then one got measured

For generations, scientists treated mariners' tales of sudden monster waves as exaggeration, since standard ocean models said waves that size were statistically almost impossible. On New Year's Day 1995, a laser sensor on Norway's Draupner oil platform recorded a wave 25.6 metres high rising from a sea of ordinary 12-metre swells — the first rogue wave ever confirmed by an instrument.

— Statoil (Draupner platform monitoring), Draupner wave — Recorded 1 January 1995, North Sea