This paper is concerned with the very large, sudden pressures produced by water-wave impact on a vertical wall. Numerical and theoretical models are briefly described and we show that there are significant pressure gradients along an impermeable sea bed, away from the wall. This aspect of wave impact pressure has not previously been noted. The effects of such transient pressure gradients on bodies lying on the bed are examined in the light of pressure impulse theory. Our theoretical results indicate that bodies may be displaced by these pressure gradients when ordinary fluid drag is insufficient to move them. We discuss the impulse and the speed imparted to a rigid body lying within a region of pressure impulse which has constant horizontal gradient, and we show that the impulse is related to the body's volume, and shape. Analytic results are given for a hemi-ellipsoidal ''boulder'', which is free to translate in a direction perpendicular to the wall. The analysis for the hemi-ellipsoid encompasses the special cases of a semi-circular cylinder and a semi-circular disc. The case of a circular cylinder which touches the bed is also discussed, and it is shown that there is a significant vertical impulse on the body in addition to the horizontal component of the impulse.
