More from the article ...

... Such an extraordinary event is thought to happen only once every 1,300 years. And if the buoy hadn't been taken for a ride, we might never have known it had occurred. ...

For centuries, rogue waves were regarded as mere nautical folklore.

It wasn't until 1995 that myth became reality.

On the first day of the new year, a nearly 26-meter (85-foot) wave struck an oil-drilling platform about 160 kilometers (100 miles) off the coast of Norway.

At the time, the so-called Draupner wave defied all previous models scientists had put together. ...