THE SEAS 



CHAPTER I 

 General Introduction 



The Oceans 



" OcEANUS," son of Heaven and Earth, was the name given 

 by the Greeks in days gone by to an ever-flowing river 

 that they supposed to flow around the earth they thought 

 was flat. Later the name became apphed to those waters 

 that were far outside the range of land, being first used to 

 signify the Atlantic Ocean which lay beyond the Pillars 

 of Hercules. To this day the name has the same significance 

 and differentiates the great open water masses from the 

 seas, gulfs, and straits, that lie around their borders. 

 The Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian, are the three 

 great oceans of the world. The first, the grave of the 

 mythical Atlantis ; the second, named " El Mar Pacifico," 

 by Magellan, so calm were his first weeks therein ; the 

 third called after the great country that bounds it on the 

 north. In addition, the waters that surround the North 

 Pole and those that lie along the coasts of the Antarctic 

 continent, are sometimes termed the Arctic and Great 

 Southern oceans respectively. 



Around the borders of these oceans lie the enclosed seas 

 cut ofi by narrow straits, such as the Mediterranean, the 

 Baltic Sea, and the Persian Gulf ; the fringing or partially 



I 



