A likely source for such large, wind-generated waves in Santo Domingo Harbor on 29 August 1916 does exist, in that three hurricanes active in the Caribbean between 12 August and 2 September 1916 passed westward just to the south. Waves generated from these storms could well have combined to create a set of large waves like those that struck and wrecked "Memphis". Such a circumstance appears to explain the loss of the ship better than the tsunami theory. Oceanographer Dr. George Pararas-Carayammis in particular published an extensively detailed rebuttal demonstrating that a tsunami could not have caused the foundering of "Memphis", but that the last of the three hurricanes, a category 2 hurricane, likely did, creating a 59-foot (18-meter) wave that reached a breaker height of 90 feet (27.4 meters) as it approached "Memphis". This swamped the cruiser, ill-advisedly anchored in only 55 feet (16.8 meters) of water, and would have done so even had the ship been at full maneuvering power. Pararas-Carayammis concluded that had "Memphis" been anchored in 100 to 120 feet (30 to 37 meters) of water, she would have ridden out the swells, including the killer wave.