[stop press] sargasso sea very mysterious
Scientists have discarded their first thought that the strong Gulf Stream carried and deposited shoreline seaweed into this large sea. Recent investigations have concluded that the sargassum is actually adapted and has reproduced to become native to the area, a strange forest of seaweed growing hundreds of miles from any land.
Legends of a "sea of lost ships" predates the Bermuda Triangle by centuries and was, in many ways, strikingly similar to the mythos of the modern Bermuda Triangle. Derelict vessels were found here more often, shipshape but deserted. On one occasion a slaver was sighted with nothing but skeletons aboard.
The Rosalie sailed through this area in 1840 before later turning up derelict, as reported in the London Times.
In 1881 the schooner Ellen Austin supposedly found a derelict schooner and, placing a prize crew aboard, sailed in tandem for port. Two days later the schooner was sighted sailing erratically. When boarded again, the ship was once again deserted. There was no trace of the prize crew.
The bark James B. Chester was found deserted in the Sargasso Sea in 1857, with chairs kicked over and a stale meal on the mess table.
Modern derelicts have included the Connemara IV, found drifting 140 miles from Bermuda in 1955, plus a number of yachts and sailboats found in 1969 and 1982.
The Sargasso Sea, like the Bermuda Triangle, received popular and often tabloid press. Paintings showed sailing vessels being devoured by the sargassum, and, at the turn of the century, readers were led to believe that freighters sat becalmed and weed shrouded with old sailing ships - even Roman triremes, for nothing ever changed in this stagnant sea.
Most older maps delineate the location of the Sargasso Sea with seaweed. An evaluation of ship and aircraft disappearances draws a striking connection with this ancient sea of mystery and the modern Bermuda Triangle.
The northern boundary of the Sargasso Sea more correctly represents the northern limits of the area of disappearances, for many aircraft and ships were in this vicinity when they vanished, i.e. a few hundred miles north of Bermuda but just entering the Sargasso Sea.
The S.S. Poet, 520-feet, bound for Gibraltar in 1980, a SAC B-52 on manoeuvers in 1961, the KB-50 ariel tanker in 1962, a Super Connie in 1954, a Navy Martin Marlin amphibian in 1956 are but a few examples. The "Seaweed Sea" has a centuries old reputation for mysterious disappearances.
For centuries the Sargasso Sea was dreaded by the seafaring because of its deadly calms. Many times the Spanish found themselves becalmed for weeks, being then forced to jettison their war horses in order to conserve water.
The sargassum could even contribute to stalling a vessel during these long periods of weak winds. And today props on smaller boats can be fouled by the weed mats, causing them go dead in the middle of nowhere.
These monotonous calms are no doubt thanks to the surrounding Gulf Stream currents which isolate the Sargasso Sea from the surrounding hostile and cold waters of the North Atlantic. The Sargasso Sea remains a warm sea, with high evaporation and low precipitation favorable to a more steady climate and hence weaker winds.
The mystery has not been solved in modern times and that of missing aircraft seems even greater since surely neither calms nor sargassum could affect them. Nor can it affect the large freighters that can easily plow through the sargassum and steam through calms with little effort. Regardless, a number of large cargo vessels are completely unaccounted for after entering this sea.
If the sargassum and the stagnant calms cannot scientifically effect modernn travel and yet aircraft and ships disappear alike then the mystery is not one of the sea but of the planet itself, its shape, mass and the area's juxtaposition on this very mysterious sphere we live on.
Why not also the South Pacific and Mentor Currents which circle around and flow onto the South Pacific, or there are the Brazil and Benguela Currents in the South Atlantic. Though these currents are thoroughly charted and frequently travelled, neither are particularly mysterious nor have they indigenous growth so thick and unaccounted for.
So why is the Sargasso as it is?
Legends of a "sea of lost ships" predates the Bermuda Triangle by centuries and was, in many ways, strikingly similar to the mythos of the modern Bermuda Triangle. Derelict vessels were found here more often, shipshape but deserted. On one occasion a slaver was sighted with nothing but skeletons aboard.
The Rosalie sailed through this area in 1840 before later turning up derelict, as reported in the London Times.
In 1881 the schooner Ellen Austin supposedly found a derelict schooner and, placing a prize crew aboard, sailed in tandem for port. Two days later the schooner was sighted sailing erratically. When boarded again, the ship was once again deserted. There was no trace of the prize crew.
The bark James B. Chester was found deserted in the Sargasso Sea in 1857, with chairs kicked over and a stale meal on the mess table.
Modern derelicts have included the Connemara IV, found drifting 140 miles from Bermuda in 1955, plus a number of yachts and sailboats found in 1969 and 1982.
The Sargasso Sea, like the Bermuda Triangle, received popular and often tabloid press. Paintings showed sailing vessels being devoured by the sargassum, and, at the turn of the century, readers were led to believe that freighters sat becalmed and weed shrouded with old sailing ships - even Roman triremes, for nothing ever changed in this stagnant sea.
Most older maps delineate the location of the Sargasso Sea with seaweed. An evaluation of ship and aircraft disappearances draws a striking connection with this ancient sea of mystery and the modern Bermuda Triangle.
The northern boundary of the Sargasso Sea more correctly represents the northern limits of the area of disappearances, for many aircraft and ships were in this vicinity when they vanished, i.e. a few hundred miles north of Bermuda but just entering the Sargasso Sea.
The S.S. Poet, 520-feet, bound for Gibraltar in 1980, a SAC B-52 on manoeuvers in 1961, the KB-50 ariel tanker in 1962, a Super Connie in 1954, a Navy Martin Marlin amphibian in 1956 are but a few examples. The "Seaweed Sea" has a centuries old reputation for mysterious disappearances.
For centuries the Sargasso Sea was dreaded by the seafaring because of its deadly calms. Many times the Spanish found themselves becalmed for weeks, being then forced to jettison their war horses in order to conserve water.
The sargassum could even contribute to stalling a vessel during these long periods of weak winds. And today props on smaller boats can be fouled by the weed mats, causing them go dead in the middle of nowhere.
These monotonous calms are no doubt thanks to the surrounding Gulf Stream currents which isolate the Sargasso Sea from the surrounding hostile and cold waters of the North Atlantic. The Sargasso Sea remains a warm sea, with high evaporation and low precipitation favorable to a more steady climate and hence weaker winds.
The mystery has not been solved in modern times and that of missing aircraft seems even greater since surely neither calms nor sargassum could affect them. Nor can it affect the large freighters that can easily plow through the sargassum and steam through calms with little effort. Regardless, a number of large cargo vessels are completely unaccounted for after entering this sea.
If the sargassum and the stagnant calms cannot scientifically effect modernn travel and yet aircraft and ships disappear alike then the mystery is not one of the sea but of the planet itself, its shape, mass and the area's juxtaposition on this very mysterious sphere we live on.
Why not also the South Pacific and Mentor Currents which circle around and flow onto the South Pacific, or there are the Brazil and Benguela Currents in the South Atlantic. Though these currents are thoroughly charted and frequently travelled, neither are particularly mysterious nor have they indigenous growth so thick and unaccounted for.
So why is the Sargasso as it is?
Labels: mystery, sargasso sea
posted by James Higham @ 19:12
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