Three types of waves that contribute to the total acoustic diffracted field of an aluminum cylinder in water are isolated by generating each wave to the exclusion of the other two. The “Franz‐type” or “creeping” wave is generated separately on the outside of aluminum cylinders withkavalues ranging from 54 to 1008. The circumferential‐wave speed is found to be 1% less than that of the free waterborne wave, in agreement with the theory for a rigid cylinder. The attenuation of these waves on aluminum cylinders is significantly less than that predicted by the theory for the rigid cylinder. Another circumferential wave, with approximately a 30° incidence and emergence angle, is found to propagate on the inside of the curved boundary. This wave has an attenuation ranging between 0.10 and 0.18 Np/rad and has a speed of 2.5 times that of the free waterborne wave. This is classified as a “Rayleigh type” wave. A third wave is observed that is similar to the wave generated at 30° incidence but has a 15° incidence and emergence angle. The attenuation is between 0.08 and 0.14 Np/rad and has a speed of 6.5 times that of the free waterborne wave. Experimental measurements of differential‐scattering cross section are compared with those calculated by means of the creeping‐wave formulation.