46 : The Atlantic 



Our proper first interest, however, is in that broad bold picture of 

 conditions found at the surface of the sea and at moderate height 

 above and depth below that surface — the realm where the ocean of 

 air and the ocean of water react upon each other. It is in this realm 

 that man has lived and explored and traveled and traded and fought. 

 It is the conditions found in this realm in all parts of the Atlantic 

 that have influenced human history. They have acted on human con- 

 duct whether man was conscious of them or not and often in the 

 beginning of Atlantic history the voyagers were unaware of the sys- 

 tems of winds that could hold them back or hasten their voyages, the 

 currents that could swing them off their intended course. Later as 

 men organized their experiences and their knowledge they made 

 expert use of Atlantic conditions — avoiding calms and side-stepping 

 hurricanes, going west in the northeast trades and back in the belt 

 of prevailing westerlies and edging into the current systems that 

 could speed them on their courses. 



The winds are largely if not totally responsible for the most impor- 

 tant Atlantic currents such as the Gulf Stream system. Recent compu- 

 tations, at least, have shown that the force available in the wind system 

 was of an order sufficient to account for the current system. It seems 

 therefore that the winds of the Atlantic north of the equator deserve 

 first attention. 



At the equator itself is the belt of the dreaded doldrums. This is 

 an area of inactive or fitful air lying between the strong and steady 

 northeast trades of the Northern Hemisphere and the strong and 

 steady southeast trades of the Southern Hemisphere. It is the belt of 

 many and prolonged calms but also of sudden squalls; of drought 

 and heat punctuated by sudden torrential rain. It was an area dreaded 

 by the captains and men of the old sailing ships for here they could 

 be caught without wind and therefore without power to progress or 

 fill sails to steady the ship, which therefore rolled noisily and inces- 

 santly in the long sea swells while the sails and rigging wore out with 

 the constant motion; the deck planks shriveled and warped; the food 

 ran out; the water evaporated in the casks; the captain drove his men, 

 shifting sail to catch every hatful of wind that came along; the men 

 grumbled or fell sick. Anything could happen in the doldrums and 

 often did. At times even steady breezes sprang up and a ship slipped 

 through without perils or hardships and also without stories to tell 

 on reaching port. 



In general the doldrums lie along the equator but this is not always 

 exactly correct. They do lie between two trade-wind belts and since 



