Ship Channel Tsunamis: Safety First When Fishing Near Shipping Lanes

ON A SUNDAY MORNING IN 2020, Dan Elder and his brother were wade-fishing on the north side of the ship channel between Port Aransas and Corpus Christi.

“We looked to our left and saw an enormous wave approaching us that seemed like a mile away. It was a perfect wave, tall and breaking,” he said. As the wave approached, the anglers could see dolphins jumping and riding the wave. The wave stretched all the way across the portion of the bay they were fishing.

“It looked to be six to 10 feet tall, and we thought it was some form of tidal wave. We had no idea what we were seeing and ran toward the shoreline from chest deep water. We ran frantically because we thought we were going to die,” Elder said.

As the duo finally got to the very shallow water after 10 minutes of running, the wave hit, knocking his anchored boat about 60 yards, and hitting them with a three-foot wall of water.

“We then looked toward Port Aransas and saw the very large ship and realized the cause of the wave. It had a full cargo of oil, going too fast down the channel. We called and reported the event to the Coast Guard.”

Elder’s story, though terrifying, is not the only one. We have recorded dozens from anglers along the coast who have encountered rogue waves that could have easily taken their lives.

David Clark is the Recreational Boater Safety Representative for the Lone Star Harbor Safety Committee in the Houston- Galveston area.

He is also Chairman of a Working Group that was formed in early 2021 to increase recreational boater awareness of the waves generated by ships transiting the Houston Ship Channel.

“This group was requested by the US Coast Guard following some drowning deaths in 2020 that could have possibly been attributed to the waves,” he said.

Although the issue is most pronounced in the Houston Ship Channel, it seems to be on the rise all along the coast.

The following are just some of the stories we’ve gathered.

Judd Hatch and his buddy Cliff were headed to the Galveston North Jetties and launched the boat at the tip of the Texas City Dike.

“Wind conditions were below 10 miles an hour, and we had a strong incoming tide. Once we launched the boat, everything was going smoothly as we started out. We were passing Seawolf Park to our right, where the ship channel continues out to the beach front. I was traveling about 35 to 40 miles an hour, looking at two to three foot swells when all of a sudden out of nowhere there were three to four, eight foot plus waves right in front of me,” he said.

“I had no time to respond to the first waves, and we took it head on. The boat completely came out of the air with a seven- to eight-foot drop only to be thrown back up two or three more times. Within seconds the waves were gone, and we were back to two-foot waves.”

Hatch said he was not prepared for this and lost some tackle boxes off the back of his boat.

“I’m glad that it’s just a fish story now,” he said.

Susan Graham is also glad that her and her husband’s rogue wave encounter in Galveston Bay is now just a memory.

“We were out in our 26-foot Bayliner cuddy cabin. We were about a quarter of a mile out from Dollar Reef on a beautiful and sunny, calm day. With a calm but stressed voice, my husband called me up from the cabin and told me to sit on the floor between the passenger seat and the cabin wall,” she said.

“At first, he had described what he saw as a large ship pulling a huge pipe across the water.Then he realized it was a breaking wave. Within 30 seconds, it hit us. I had left the front hatch open for ventilation while I was in the cabin. The water in front of our boat went away, and the boat fell forward with such force, I thought the boat must be destroyed. We were hit by a 12-foot-plus wake from a passing ship,” she said 

“Water poured into the front hatch. My husband managed to hold the bow into the wave. Then, a second and a third wave hit, each diminishing in size.

I was thrown into the cabin wall several times. His feet left the deck, but he held onto the steering wheel. The trough drop was terrifying.

My husband saved our lives that day by keeping the bow into the waves. Had we turned at all, the 26-foot boat would have flipped, and we would have been crushed under the boat,” Graham said.

The Grahams no longer fish the main Galveston Bay.

About ten years ago, Ray Keonitzer and his wife were fishing along the jetty on the Texas side, south of Sabine Pass They were anchored in their 18.5 ft. bass boat when a big ship came in.

“I spent some of my youth fishing the salt water of Southeast Texas, so I know to watch carefully for ship traffic and the resulting waves. It only took witnessing one ship coming through the ship channel to indelibly print the water’s reaction in my mind,” he said.

“Suddenly the back of the boat lifted and was “surf-boarded” straight into the jetty wall. Fortunately, the trolling motor was in the water, and took the lion’s share of the punishment.

“I’m thinking there was one big wave and then a couple of smaller ones. I’m certain, had it not been for the trolling motor, the boat would have sustained a lot more damage, possibly even been thrown on top of, or over the jetty wall, despite having the rear anchor deployed,” he said.

With widening and dredging of not only the Houston-Galveston Ship Channel but the Sabine-Neches Waterway and other systems, this issue is likely to get worse.

This an excerpt from the Lone Star Harbor Safety Committee’s “Sharing Our Bay” safety guide.

“The speed of a ship or tow can be deceptive. A ship can be going 15 knots or more in the Houston Ship Channel, and even faster in deep ocean water.”

“Small craft vessels and other recreational users of the waterway should be alert to the possibility of large swells or breakers in the shallow water near the sides of the channel astern of passing vessels. If caught in this situation, remain calm and seated. Turn the boat and head into the swells at a 45-degree angle to avoid being swamped.”

The Galveston’s Pilot’s official guidebook has some interesting notes on the impact of channel deepening and widening.

“With the deepening and widening project complete, the Houston Ship Channel can accommodate the massive Suezmax tanker. On average, the Suezmax is 70 feet longer and 20 feet wider than the Aframax the largest vessel permissible in the channel prior to the deepening and widening project.

It is also capable of carrying up to 40 percent more cargo. The larger size and cargo capacity of the Suezmax tanker means more weight and greater water displacement in the channel. This leads to amplification of hydraulic forces exerted on other vessels in the vicinity.” Hydraulic forces means big waves and also water being sucked out of areas.

Several years ago, Tony Draper was coming back into the boat ramp at the end of the Texas City Dike with his wife and small kids.

“As soon as I pulled up to tie off, there was a weird sound of water rushing, and I felt the boat dropping and being pulled back out. I instinctively grabbed onto the piling with one arm and my boat with the other. As I did that, I looked over and water was literally disappearing out of the “enclosed” ramp area as if someone had pulled a giant drain plug,” he said.

“I would say 75 percent or more of the water in the ramp area was gone in no more than three to four seconds. At that point, I felt my boat hit the bottom. Within seconds, the water started rushing back in, and it was literally all I could do to keep my boat from being pushed right up onto the concrete ramp.

“I have no idea how I possibly had the strength to hold a 22-foot bay boat with all of that water rushing in, but I guess the panic and adrenaline gave me extra strength. I had small tears in several muscles because of it,” he said.

Draper didn’t see a big ship or barge nearby, but it is possible something from a long distance could have made this happen. There were some far away in the shipping lanes.

There’s a spot on the Sabine Lake side of Pleasure Island where water will suck (I assume through some pipe) from the lake side out very quickly when a ship approaches on the opposite side of the island. Conversely, water will shoot through after it passes.

Large waves are so prevalent in the Houston-Galveston Ship Channel, there are surfing charters there.

Tanker Surf Charters specializes in ship channel surfing there. They show surfers riding some big waves at their website.

For real.

Information is power, and this article is written to empower you to stay safe at a time when an increasing number of large ships are moving through our coastal waterways.

Be careful, not only in the channel itself, but also consider dangers of wading in flats near the channels. Always wear a life vest and be prepared when you see big ships coming through.

Although these waves technically aren’t tsunamis, they have certainly left a seismic-like impact on the souls of those who have encountered them.

If you have encountered these kinds of waves, please contact us at chester@chestermoore.com with your reports. We will continue sharing these through our Fish & Game Report e-newsletter to raise awareness to what seems to be a growing danger.

 

 

—story by CHESTER MOORE

 

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