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Unlike body waves, surface waves (also known as long waves, or simply L waves) move along the surface of the Earth. Surface waves are to blame for most of an earthquake's carnage. They move up and down the surface of the Earth, rocking the foundations of man-made structures. Surface waves are the slowest moving of all waves, which means they arrive the last.
Surface waves travel a little slower than S waves (which, in turn, are slower than P waves) so they tend to arrive at the seismograph just after the S waves. For shallow earthquakes (earthquakes with a focus near the surface of the earth), the surface waves may be the largest waves recorded by the seismograph.