A review of the circumstances surrounding the sinking of the S.S. Pennsylvania with all hands in the Gulf of Alaska during January, 1952, necessitated an historical survey of severe storms in the Gulf of Alaska. The purpose of the investigation was (1) to determine from weather data the frequency and variability of occurrence of storms which would generate very high waves, and (2) to demonstrate the importance of factors other than measured wind speed such as duration, fetch, and air‐sea temperature difference on development of very high wind waves. Criteria were developed for screening out the storms which probably generated high waves and sustained them for long durations. From the records for the winters of 1922–23 to 1951–52, excluding World War II years, 15 storms were selected and critically examined for their wave creating potential. The Pennsylvania storm of January 8–10, 1952, was considered the most severe and herein is compared with two other storms of higher wind speeds which did not generate higher waves. In addition, a longer‐period storm survey of high January winds shows a large annual variability with January 1952 the extreme.