A 19-month-old infant is swept up in the ocean tides at Hermosa Beach, California. Local photographer John L. Gaunt photographs the incident; 1955 Pulitzer winner "Tragedy by the Sea".

Hermosa Beach is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Its population was 19,728 at the 2020 U.S. Census. The city is located in the South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area; it is one of the three Beach Cities. Hermosa Beach is bordered by the other two, Manhattan Beach to the north and Redondo Beach to the south and east.

John Lyndon Gaunt also known as Jack was an American photographer who worked for the Los Angeles Times. He won the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Photography for his photograph titled "Tragedy by the Sea". The image showed a man and a woman standing on a beach after their 19-month-old son disappeared.

Tragedy by the Sea, also known as Cruel Waves, is a photo showing a young couple, John and Lillian McDonald, standing together beside the Pacific Ocean in Hermosa Beach, California, United States. The image was captured in April 1954 by Los Angeles Times photographer John L. Gaunt. A few minutes before the image was taken, the couple's nineteen-month-old son Michael had disappeared. The photo won the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Photography and an Associated Press Award.