There was no trace of the prize crew. The bark James B. Chester was found deserted in the SargassoSea 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.
National Geographic Some of the above, though exaggerated, was based on fact. 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.