One of those infamous storms on the Iroise Sea happened on 21 December 1989. A front of low pressure coming from Ireland brought gale force winds and huge waves of 20 to 30 metres high which crashed spectacularly against the lighthouse.
The waves smashed through the lower windows of the lighthouse, ripped the front door, flooded the tower and washed away the furniture.
About the same time, photographer Jean Guichard was in Lorient hiring a helicopter to take aerial pictures of the storm. Guichard wanted to fly over the Iroise Sea despite extremely dangerous flying conditions.
The helicopter made it to La Jument and hovered around for Guichard to take shots of the waves pounding the lighthouse. Inside the tower, Théodore Malgorn heard the helicopter and went downstairs to see what was going on.
At that very moment, a giant wave rose over the rear of the lighthouse and Guichard took his world-famous shot as the wave smashed against the tower. Théodore Malgorn, suddenly realising that a giant wave was about to engulf the structure, rushed back inside just in time to save his life. In an interview he said "If I had been a little further away from the door, I would not have made it back into the tower. And I would be dead today. You cannot play with the sea.
https://www.tumblr.com/search/phare%20de%20la%20jument
Edit: this is how they used to relieve the keepers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptPN9LgRNBY
I haven't had a chance to read "Endurance" yet, but "South!" - written by Shackleton is amazing.
The whole thing is such an epic adventure, it's amazing they survived. Setting sail in the James Caird into the unforgiving Southern Ocean and navigating by the stars, then having to traverse a mountain range no one had ever explored before to reach a whaling outpost.
I think one of my favorite parts of that story is they left right as WWI was starting and they first thing they asked when reaching the whaling station:
>“Tell me, when was the war over?” I asked.
>“The war is not over,” he answered. “Millions are being killed. Europe is mad. The world is mad.”
Many of the crew would then go back to fight and die in the trenches.
From the description of the book about this event:
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>Seventy-foot waves batter a torn life raft 250 miles out to sea in one of the world’s most dangerous places, the Gulf Stream. Hanging on to the raft are three men: a Canadian, a Brit, and their captain, JP de Lutz, a dual citizen of the United States and France. Their capsized forty-seven-foot sailboat has disappeared below the tempestuous sea. The giant waves repeatedly toss the men out of their tiny vessel, and JP, with nine broken ribs, is hypothermic and on the verge of death.
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>Trying to reach these survivors before it’s too late are four brave Coast Guardsmen battling hurricane-force winds in their Jayhawk helicopter. With waves reaching an astounding eighty feet, lowering the helicopter into such chaos will be extremely dangerous. The pilots wonder if they have a realistic chance of saving the sailors or even retrieving their own rescue swimmer. Soon the rescuers find themselves in almost as much trouble as the survivors, facing one life-and-death moment after the next against the towering seas.
x-post from r/vessels
This really hits close to home. I lost a friend and two acquaintances on the El Faro. I've also had a family member serve on her back in the '90s. And I sailed on the ship that took over her run in the Caribbean. It's amazing how few people have even heard of this event.
There's a book coming out soon that you can pre-order on Amazon all about the disaster.
Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm, and the Sinking of El Faro
I also have pretty intimate knowledge of the ship and the plant if anyone has some questions. I might be able to answer.
Sorry it didn't load for some -- try this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp9JZrCrrQY
This site doesn't have a lot of pictures, but I think they're better than the wiki article. https://roadtrippers.com/stories/atlantic-ocean-road?lat=40.83044&lng=-96.70166&z=5
Sick ! Also reminder me of Our Last Chance: sixty six deadly days adrift . I think I have read it 6-7 times / incredible page turner. Many of the storm scenes seem just like this. Couples wooden hull sailboat sunk by Pilot whales / minimal life raft. INTENSE read.
For anybody wondering, it's this one on Amazon's streaming service, though pirating is definitely the preferred manner of consumption for it.
Totally. Ya, I'm not accusing anyone of underestimation. https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/harvey-houston-most-extreme-rains-ever-major-us-city
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But it's not like people were not expecting a terrible, historically intense storm to make landfall, hence the mandatory evacuations....
>On April 29, a tanker was caught up in extremely turbulent weather and one of the crew members recorded video of the frightening scene. As the ship was crossing the North Atlantic, it was struck by a series of large waves in what looked like a scene straight out of the 2000 film The Perfect Storm.
-18°F and 5+ feet of snow on November 11th, 1975? there are plenty of stories of the storm and none that i can find mention record low temperatures or heavy snow.
No problem.
Interestingly enough, The Weather Channel has a better quality version of the video along with the correct information. I would expect them to deliver it with more sensationalism.