THE IMPENETRABLE SEA 



original Charybdis broke up, as the result of violent 

 earthquakes which shook the sea-bed under the Strait. 



There are many other whirlpools, some of them of 

 considerable size, scattered over the sea's surface. 



Of these the most notable is the Maelstrom, first 

 mentioned in Mercator's Atlas of 1595 and situated off 

 the coast of Norway. 



An unquestionable authority — the Sailing Directions for 

 the Coast of Norway — says that the Maelstrom is "still the 

 most dangerous tideway in Lofoten, its violence being 

 due, in great measure, to the irregularity of the ground". 

 These are described by the document as "like so many 

 pits in the sea". It repeats the old tradition already 

 mentioned regarding the Charybdis, that if fishermen 

 have time to "throw an oar or other bulky body" into 

 one of the vortices "they will get over it safely : the reason 

 being that when the continuity is broken, and the whirl- 

 ing motion of the sea interrupted by something thrown 

 into it, the water must rush suddenly in on all sides and 

 fill up the cavity. 



"For the same reason," the author o^ Sailing Directions 

 continues, "in strong breezes, when the waves break, 

 though there may be a whirling round there can be no 

 cavity. In the Maelstrom boats and men have been drawn 

 down by these vortices, and much loss of life has resulted." 



The depth of the water in the vicinity of the Maelstrom 

 — supposed at one time to be too deep for sounding — has 

 been found to be no more than twenty fathoms, with a 

 bottom of rocks and white sand. The current runs with 

 the tides alternately (six hours from south to north, then 

 six hours from north to south) producing the whirlpools 

 of the area: unified and idealized by Poe and other 

 writers on the sea. 



We have examined only two of the ocean's whirlpools 

 in any detail. In all of them myriads of strange creatures 

 have their homes, all of them with interesting life-cycles 

 and many of them using devices as wonderful in their 



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