The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1873-10-10
THE sARGAssO SEA.

Tue oceani Astonishing as tbs
} statement seems, It is literally true
The limits of the seA are as well de-
lined IS those of any other known
collection Of Wsser; its character
istics are so sneciaf that no one can
mistake Ihem.
When ColNIBhus, on his first voy-
fage, had Sfled some distance to
westward 81 the Canary Islands,
he was amazed to find his ships in
an undulating meadow. AS far as
be could see the water was covered
with a greenish yellow plant, which
appropriated the surface of the sea
as thoroughly and effectively as
water lilies cover g pond. The
wind was light but steady; there
were not any birds to indicate the
proximity of land, neither was
there any apparent cause for such a
collection of weed. The sailors, al
ready frightened by the persistence
OF the wind from one qnarter (they
had got into the trade Windsl look.
ed upon the weed before them be-
hind them, and on either side of
them, as an infallible proof of their
Imminent destruction. The AL.
mighty, they said, was angry at
their impious attempts to pry into
His secrets in the West and had
given them over to the devil, who
would forever prevent their return
10 Spain, and now had brought
them into snare such as sailors
most dread-shallows extending too
far beyond the land to allow of
ships or men being saved. The
commander could not explain the
sight he saw, and might have
thought with his men that the weed
was the cast-of clothing of some
dangerous rock, which lay q short
distance down ready to tear and
rend them. The deep sea lead line
was hove, but no bottom was
found. The ships kept on their
westerly course, still sounding and
still finding no bottom, till, in few
days, they sailed away from the
weed and came where the broad
ocean was clear again, unencumber-
ed by aught but the ships of the ex-
plorers.
Ever since the time Columbus
saw the weed, and probably for
thousands of years before he saw
it, the Sargasso, or Grassy Sea, has
existed. Maury states that Sob
serYations extending back for fifty
years assures us that its. position
has not been altered within that
time"
AS to its cause Maury says: eff
bits of CORK or chaf or any floating
substance be put into q basin and q |
circular motion be given to the |
water, all the light substance will |
be found crowding together near |
the centre of the pool, where there |
is the least motion. just such q |
basin is the Atlantic Ocean to the |
Gulf Stream, and the Sargasso sea |
is the center of the whirl."
This sea lies midway of the At |
lantic. Its boundary may be indi- |
Gated by tracing triangle, of which |
the three corners are represented by |
the Azores, the Canaries and the |
Cape de Verde Islands. One au-
thority locates it between 20 de-
grees and 35 degrees W. longitude,
and from Is degrees to % degrees
N. latitude. In Lippincott's Gazett-
eer it is described as extending |
"from the meridian of 80 degrees |
W. to the bahama Islands, between |
the parallels of 20 degrees and 45 |
degrees W." The area of this sea |
is given as upwards of 100000 |
square miles, or nearly equal in ex.
tent to the Mississippi Valley. |
Within these limits the sea is still |
bottomless, and is clothed on its
surface with a garment of vegetable |
material, SO thick as to retard the |
progress of vessels sailing through |
it. To the eye, at little distance,
it seems substantial enough to walk |
upon. Its appearance is sometimes |
compared to that of a flooded |
meadow. This seaweed is called |
FucaGs g.dtdus, Sargassum, or gulf |
weed. 1t was formerly supposed |
to have been torn from the bottom |
of the ocean, but there is now good |
reason to believe that it propagates |
in the sea, and vegetables floating. |
It evidently springs from an in
exbaustible source. Steamers avoid |
it when they can do 80, because of
the fouling of their screws and |
paddles by the weed; but sailing |
vessels outward bound to the West |
&C., must needs pass through it.
uC StotCu1OAI LAo0C Az wi hCIL . |
Physical Geography, that "trees
and plants from the banks of the |
Amazon, the Orinoco and the Mis-
sissippi, disengaged from the Gulf
Stream, in which they have drifted |
for hundreds of miles, here at last
find rest"
Sometimes great storm proceed
ing from some point outside the |
charmed triangle, causes its effects |
to be felt within the triangle, and |
scatters the weed more or less out
of hounds patches of the weed are
always to be found floating down |
the Gulf Stream from the Mexican
Sea. Usually there is placid con-
dition of things in the Sargasso
Sea; the wind is light, the sky is
clear, the water never RACES, and
unless such q storm as has been
mentioned should disturb the won't
ed calmness of the sea, the surface
presents the same appearance as on
the day when Columbus saw it.