Phosphorescence of the Sea 509 



while for Wm. Falconer,^ 



High o'er the poop the audacious seas aspire 

 UproU'd in hills of fluctuating fire. 



Eighteenth and nineteenth-century explorers were as ecstatic as 

 the poets in their appreciation of the spectacle. Johann Reinhold 

 Forster (1729-1798), naturalist for Captain Cook's voyage around 

 the world in the " Resolution " in 1772-1775 described (1778: 636-4) 

 the sea during a fresh gale off the Cape of Good Hope, October 30, 

 1772: 



Scarcely had night spread its veil over the surface of the ocean, when it 

 had the appearance of being all over on fire. Every wave that broke 

 had a luminous margin or top; wherever the sides of the ship came in 

 contact with the sea, there appeared a line of phosphoreal light. The 

 eye discovered this luminous appearance every where on the ocean; nay, 

 the very bosom of this immense element seemed to be pregnant with this 

 shining appearance. 



Charles Darwin (1809-1882) , in his Journal of Researches during 

 the Voyage of H. M. S. Beagle, made in 1839, wrote: 



While sailing a little south of the Plata on one very dark night, the 

 sea presented a wonderful and most beautiful spectacle. There was a 

 fresh breeze, and every part of the surface, which during the day is seen 

 as foam, now glowed with a pale light. The vessel drove before her bows 

 two billows of liquid phosphorus, and in her wake she was followed by a 

 milky train. As far as the eye reached, the crest of every wave was bright, 

 and the sky above the horizon, from the reflected glare of these livid 

 flames, was not so utterly obscure as over the vault of the heavens. 



One of the officers of the " Challenger " in a highly poetic mood 

 wrote ^ of the sea southeast of the Cape Verde Islands: 



On the night of the 14th the sea was most gloriously phosphorescent 

 to a degree unrivalled in our experience. A fresh wind was blowing 

 and every wave and wavelet, as far as one could see from the ship on 

 all sides to the distant horizon flashed brightly as they broke while 

 above the horizon hung a faint but visible white light. Astern of the 

 ship, deep down where the keel cut the water, glowed a broad band of 

 blue, emerald green light, from which came streaming up, or floated to 

 the syrface, myriads of yellow sparks, which glittered and sparkled against 

 the brilliant cloud light below, until both mingled and died out astern 

 far away in our wake. Ahead of the ship, where the old bluff bows of 

 the " Challenger " went ploughing and churning through the sea, there 



^Wm. Falconer (1735-1769), The shipwreck (1762). 

 3 C. W. Thomson, Voyage of the Challenger 2: 85, 1877. 



