An experimental investigation is made into the various flow regimes accompanying
a ship travelling in a channel at supercritical speeds. The phenomena of smooth
solitons, broken solitons, bores, and steady supercritical flow are observed. We look
at the conditions under which each phenomenon exists, and the depth-based Froude
numbers at which the transitions occur. Special emphasis is placed on ship bores, and
we put forward a simple theoretical model for predicting the form of the bores as
well as the transition to steady supercritical flow.