The North Sea can be scary. But maybe not TikTok scary.

High waves fill your field of vision, your palms start to sweat and your stomach churns.

The boat is tossed back and forth. The crew struggles to stay up against the swell.

Wait a minute, take a deep breath. You’re not on the Drake Passage in Antarctica, or in the Pacific Ocean – wait a minute, you’re not even a sailor. You are North SeaToka corner of TikTok where videos about storms on the medium-sized body of water between Denmark, England, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Norway are set to scary music and intended to instill fear.

The North Sea is a shallow and often turbulent body of water, but one that hundreds of thousands of ships traverse each year largely without incident.

“Waves can be high in the North Sea, but they are not the highest,” says Sofia Caires, an expert in wave conditions at the Dutch research institute Deltares. Waves are generally higher in the North Atlantic Ocean or off the coast of Iceland, she said. Other rougher seas are found south of South Africa and south of Australia.

Waves in the North Sea can be about 20 meters high, Dr Caires said. On very rare occasions it can produce rogue (or freak) waves, which are waves that are much higher than those surrounding it.

A lot happens in the North Sea: shipping, fishing, energy production, tourism and more.

But that doesn’t seem to be why TikTok is interested.

Slow-motion videos of choppy waves, bobbing container ships, wind and other rugged scenes on open water have racked up millions of views on the platform. The soundtrack to most of these is a remix of the ominous sailor song “Hoist the Colors,” made famous by one of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, a version of which has been released. used for over 36,000 videos.

It’s not the first time the open sea has mesmerized and frightened TikTok users: in 2021, SeaShantyTok brought the sailor’s work songs from the 1850s into the modern era. There have been cartel boat chases and daring rescue actionslike reunions at sea. And recently videos of boats traversing the dramatic-looking area Drake Passage en route to Antarctica has captivated viewers.

Some of the the same voices and creators of ShantyTok have appeared on NorthSeaTok, including the voice of Bobby Bass, whose version of “Hoist the colors” is the one used most often in the videos.

“I was quite surprised at how popular the videos became,” says James Cullen, who posted one of the early North Sea TikToks to the account. @ukdestinations. He said much of the audience for those videos came from well outside the surrounding region, including Indonesia and the US

Many viewers have done that expressed a combination of horror and confusion. Responses included a sense of dread (“My biggest fear is being in the North Sea with this song playing in the background,” one commenter wrote), confusion (“Is someone else’s TikTok is simply FULL of North Sea videos”, said another) and fascination (“I am now addicted to watching the North Sea”).

Many of the captions are the opposite of calming: “Life here is lonely and the North Sea is notorious for its cruelty, with wild storms and foggy winters,” reads one. Others call the North Sea ‘the most treacherous sea in the world’. (Still others call it an ocean, which it is not.)

That’s not quite the full picture.

The North Sea is very busy: according to the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, most ships (about 260,000 per year) sail through the Dutch part of it. (There are also several websites that follow the traffic at sea.) In the Dutch part there were 55 shipping accidents in 2022, but according to government figures no fatalities.

Although modern navigation equipment has made collisions rare, they do occur. In October, two freighters collided with each other off the German coast, killing at least one sailor. In 2012, two container ships collided, causing one carrying cars and oil to sink off the Dutch coast, killing eleven people.

As you scroll through the endless videos in the app and fantasize about what it would be like to work on an oil rig in the North Sea, feeling the cold water and strong wind almost on your face, try not to worry too much to make.

Much of the hype surrounding these videos is classic TikTok behavior, says Dave Byrne, head of creative services at youth marketing and advertising agency Thinkhouse. People imagine their worst fears – in this case thalassophobia, the fear of open water – and act on them through their screens.

TikTok is perfect for short, intense fixes. But like many other trends, Mr Byrne says, NorthSeaTok’s popularity is likely limited.

“The algorithm will go further,” he said. “Give it another week.”