Background This adventure story features a cutter-rigged
sailboat. Cutter-rigged boats are small sailing yachts, each with
a single mast for the main sail and smaller sails up front. Cutters
can be equipped with a cabin that usually includes a small
kitchen, called a galley. Author Theodore Taylor (1921–2006)
wrote many stories about self-reliant characters who face great
challenges. His best-known book, The Cay, depicts the struggles
of a young shipwrecked sailor.
Rogue Wave
Short Story by Theodore Taylor
SETTING A PURPOSE Pay attention to the details and events
that make this story an adventure. As you read, think about As you read, save new
how the author builds a sense of excitement and anticipation words to myWordList.
throughout the short story.
A killer wave, known to mariners as a “rogue wave,” was
approaching a desolate area of Baja California below
Ensenada. It had been born off the east coast of Australia
during a violent storm; it had traveled almost 7,000 miles at
a speed of 20.83 miles an hour. Driven by an unusual pattern
of easterly winds, it was a little over 800 feet in length and
measured about 48 feet from the bottom of its trough to its
crest. On its passage across the Pacific, it had already killed
(t) ©Don Romero/Romero Fine Portraiture
thirteen people, mostly fishermen in small boats, but also an
10 entire French family of five aboard a 48-foot schooner . . .
Melissa “Scoot” Atkins went below into the Old Sea Dog’s tiny
galley, moving down the three steps of the companionway,
closing the two solid entry doors behind her, always a good
Rogue Wave 3
, idea in offshore sailing. The three horizontal hatch boards that
were on top of the doors were also firmly in place, securing
the thirty-foot Baba type against sudden invasion of seawater.
Rogues and sneakers have been around since the beginning
of the oceans, and the earliest sea literature makes note of
“giant” waves. The U.S. Navy manual Practical Methods for
20 Observing and Forecasting Ocean Waves says, “In any wave
system, after a long enough time, an exceptional high one will
occur. These monstrous out-sized waves are improbable but
still possible and the exact time of occurrence can never be
predicted.” Naval hydrography1 studies indicate that waves 15
to 25 feet high qualify for “sneaker” or “sleeper” status; the freak
rogue is up to 100 feet or over. As waters slowly warm they seem
to be occurring more frequently. In 1995 the Queen Elizabeth 2
(the QE2), the great British passenger liner, encountered a 95-
foot rogue south of Newfoundland. More than 900 feet long, the
30 QE2 rode over it, but her captain said it looked like they were
sailing into the White Cliffs of Dover.
Sullivan Atkins, Scoot’s oldest brother, was steering the
cutter-rigged boat on a northerly course about fifteen miles off
desolate Cabo Colnett, south of Ensenada. Under a brilliant swell
(sw≈l) n.
sun, the glittering blue Pacific rose and fell in long, slick A swell is a long,
swells, a cold light breeze holding steady. unbroken wave.
Below deck Scoot was listening to Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite deck
Boys doing “Swingin’ West,” and singing along with them (d≈k) n. The deck is
the platform on a
while slicing leftover steak from last night’s meal. They’d ship or boat where
40 grilled it on a small charcoal ring that was mounted outboard people stand.
on the starboard side2 at the stern, trailing sparks into the
water. The Sea Dog had every blessed thing, including a
barbecue pit, she marveled.
Scoot was learning how to be a deep-water sailor. She was
fourteen years old and pretty, with dark hair. Though small in
size, not even five feet, she was strong. She’d started off with
eight-foot Sabots. On this trip, her first aboard the Sea Dog,
she’d manned the wheel for most of the three days they’d been
under way. She’d stood four-hour watches at night. Sully was a
50 good teacher.
1
hydrography: the scientific description and analysis of the earth’s surface
waters.
2
outboard on the starboard side: positioned outside and on the right side of the
boat.
4 Collection 1
sailboat. Cutter-rigged boats are small sailing yachts, each with
a single mast for the main sail and smaller sails up front. Cutters
can be equipped with a cabin that usually includes a small
kitchen, called a galley. Author Theodore Taylor (1921–2006)
wrote many stories about self-reliant characters who face great
challenges. His best-known book, The Cay, depicts the struggles
of a young shipwrecked sailor.
Rogue Wave
Short Story by Theodore Taylor
SETTING A PURPOSE Pay attention to the details and events
that make this story an adventure. As you read, think about As you read, save new
how the author builds a sense of excitement and anticipation words to myWordList.
throughout the short story.
A killer wave, known to mariners as a “rogue wave,” was
approaching a desolate area of Baja California below
Ensenada. It had been born off the east coast of Australia
during a violent storm; it had traveled almost 7,000 miles at
a speed of 20.83 miles an hour. Driven by an unusual pattern
of easterly winds, it was a little over 800 feet in length and
measured about 48 feet from the bottom of its trough to its
crest. On its passage across the Pacific, it had already killed
(t) ©Don Romero/Romero Fine Portraiture
thirteen people, mostly fishermen in small boats, but also an
10 entire French family of five aboard a 48-foot schooner . . .
Melissa “Scoot” Atkins went below into the Old Sea Dog’s tiny
galley, moving down the three steps of the companionway,
closing the two solid entry doors behind her, always a good
Rogue Wave 3
, idea in offshore sailing. The three horizontal hatch boards that
were on top of the doors were also firmly in place, securing
the thirty-foot Baba type against sudden invasion of seawater.
Rogues and sneakers have been around since the beginning
of the oceans, and the earliest sea literature makes note of
“giant” waves. The U.S. Navy manual Practical Methods for
20 Observing and Forecasting Ocean Waves says, “In any wave
system, after a long enough time, an exceptional high one will
occur. These monstrous out-sized waves are improbable but
still possible and the exact time of occurrence can never be
predicted.” Naval hydrography1 studies indicate that waves 15
to 25 feet high qualify for “sneaker” or “sleeper” status; the freak
rogue is up to 100 feet or over. As waters slowly warm they seem
to be occurring more frequently. In 1995 the Queen Elizabeth 2
(the QE2), the great British passenger liner, encountered a 95-
foot rogue south of Newfoundland. More than 900 feet long, the
30 QE2 rode over it, but her captain said it looked like they were
sailing into the White Cliffs of Dover.
Sullivan Atkins, Scoot’s oldest brother, was steering the
cutter-rigged boat on a northerly course about fifteen miles off
desolate Cabo Colnett, south of Ensenada. Under a brilliant swell
(sw≈l) n.
sun, the glittering blue Pacific rose and fell in long, slick A swell is a long,
swells, a cold light breeze holding steady. unbroken wave.
Below deck Scoot was listening to Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite deck
Boys doing “Swingin’ West,” and singing along with them (d≈k) n. The deck is
the platform on a
while slicing leftover steak from last night’s meal. They’d ship or boat where
40 grilled it on a small charcoal ring that was mounted outboard people stand.
on the starboard side2 at the stern, trailing sparks into the
water. The Sea Dog had every blessed thing, including a
barbecue pit, she marveled.
Scoot was learning how to be a deep-water sailor. She was
fourteen years old and pretty, with dark hair. Though small in
size, not even five feet, she was strong. She’d started off with
eight-foot Sabots. On this trip, her first aboard the Sea Dog,
she’d manned the wheel for most of the three days they’d been
under way. She’d stood four-hour watches at night. Sully was a
50 good teacher.
1
hydrography: the scientific description and analysis of the earth’s surface
waters.
2
outboard on the starboard side: positioned outside and on the right side of the
boat.
4 Collection 1
