Scientists recreate monster waves out of sailor legends "For as long as sailers have ventured into the ocean, there have been reports of isolated mountains of water rising out of the blue."[1] But none had been measured before until the 26m (84ft ) "rogue wave" which struck the Drauper oil platform off Norway on Jan 1, 1995. The platform survived, and scientists got their first recorded evidence of the phenomenon.

Engineers from Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh have been able to reconstruct these monster waves in the lab, under crossing-sea conditions of 120 degrees.

The caption is the 1830 woodblock - Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai.

The wiki page is a fascinating account of the physics, forces, and phenomena.[2]

References:
[1] https://www.sciencealert.com/lab-experiments-recreate-a-devastating-freak-wave-for-the-first-time-and-it-s-beautiful

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave