The largest wave ever recoreded was an enormous splash caused by an avalanche. An Alaskan earthquake on July 9, 1958 knocked 90 million tons of rock and ice into Lituya Bay, pushing a 522-foot (160 km) wave out into the Pacific Ocean. A fishing boat, the Badger, happened to be in the bay at the time. The wave lifted the boat up and over the peninsula and plopped it down in the ocean on the other side. Crew members could see the tree tops below them as they rode the wavefront like a surfboard. Amazingly, everyone aboard survived.