The in-line and transverse forces acting on circular cylinders placed near a plane boundary in a sinusoidally oscillating fluid in a U-shaped vertical water tunnel have been measured. The period parameter Um T/D was varied from about 2 to 40, the Reynolds number from 4000 to 25,000, and the gap between the cylinder and the plane boundary from 0.01 D to 1.0D. The drag and inertia coefficients for the in-line force have been determined through the use of the Morison’s equation and the Fourier analysis, least squares method, and a modified least squares method. The transverse force coefficients have been obtained for the forces toward the wall and away from the wall. The results show that the in-line and transverse forces could acquire very large magnitudes and give rise to serious oscillations. For very small values of the period parameter, effects of flow separation become negligible and the inertia coefficient for the in-line force and the lift coefficient for the transverse force approach those predicted by the potential theory.