system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5 : If ocean waves can grow to be very tall in height, especially during a storm, how do ships not topple and sink very often?

I've seen videos of ships, and sometimes smaller vessels, in the middle of seas and oceans during a storm, where the peaks of the ocean waves are much taller than the ship itself, so that it looks like the ship is riding some dynamic hills. I just know about basic buoyancy, and that too, the assumption is that the water is still. I'm curious to know how these ships can battle large waves and high winds. I rarely hear about ships destroyed/lost in storms nowadays, and I'm pretty sure stormy seas are quite common.
gpt
The most dangerous thing for a ship at sea, and this has been true since humanity first ventured on boats, is capsizing. If the boat/ship rolls over, it's basically game over (except for some very small vessels, like kayaks), since water can get in from everywhere at that point. So the skill of the pilot/captain in keeping the boat from capsizing is what keeps ships afloat most of the time. By sailing bow-first into the waves, the wave will hit the bow of the ship and break over it; if the wave were to hit the side of the ship, it would push it over.

The next hazard from water coming over the bow is from water getting into the ship. A ship that is in stormy seas will try to seal itself up as tight as possible (closing doors and hatches). If water can't get into the ship, it will just flow right off of it. If you look at ships in detail, you can see a lot of small things that work towards this. None of the doors are open at the bottom of the frame; there's always at least a few inches of solid steel or whatever material at the bottom, so that water can't flow through the crack between the door and the frame. Likewise, any cargo hatches on the main deck will have a raised rim around it, so that water will flow around them instead of into them. The sides of the ship either only have railings or the solid paneling will have cuts in the bottom so any water on the deck will flow off. The ships are as sealed up as they can be from any random water to prevent any water from getting in and weighing it down.

Lastly, if any water does get in, most commercial shipping will have bilge pumps to pump the water out. These won't save the ship if there's a hole in the side, but they will keep it from getting too heavy from the numerous, small amounts of water that are washed in from any given wave.