Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-04-02
NEAR A MAELSTROM.
VISIT TO THE MOST TERRIBLE
WHIRLPOOL IN THE WORLD.
'. e.: e: e: :; E: :;
Wonderful Natural Curiosity

ern coast of Norway, IN the OoOh ueS' VI
latitude, you will find traced thereon Ghe n
name of the largest and most terrloio |
whirlpool in the known world. Inns IIael' n
strom is about mile and hair IN oialn a
otar and it's vortex has an inclination oil v
AZ deo,s or about that Of water in large a
funnel when half run out. Its condltloh Is ?
yariant Sometimes it is not at all dan c
oarous. at other times it is so powerfully t
dastructive that the largest vessel ever
constructed. if once fairly caught IN lts
,ybirI could be no more than mere {
feather Everything that enters 1t at such J
a time is crushed and torn to pieces. {
The cause of this immense whirlpool
has heen yariously stated, but it Is only {
ouesswork and theory after all some
have thought there is subterraneah p''a-
sage. and that the waters come OUT aC
great distance-One writer even giving One
Gulf of Bothnia for their terminus. OIleIS
AGAIN. and with more plauslblllty, argue
that the whirl is solely the erect Oh Ouo
,,-ators of the tide. during its ebb and flow,
| being pent up by Lodges oil rochs' W.
/ which they fall with the velocity OF a cata-
ract and assume the gyratory movement
in their effort to escape or reach a level
l The word "maelstrom' means mill
stream" and is said TO have been gwen TO
IL because it's rush resembles that OF mlll-
stream when it is let loose from cohnhe-
ment. 49,. Iol
business of a commercial nature LED
mo 20 visit some of the ports OF Norway /
and the Loffoden islands, and being WITHIN
easy reach of the wonder of the world
became possessed with a great desire TO see
il for myself In conversation WIN an o'u
Norwegian fisherman l learned 10 my
great surprise, that he had not only s'u!eu
close around it when it was raging WIN
/, great fury, but that he had more than once
, yentured across it, with strong Dreese'
r during its regular lull at the turn Oh 1he
, tide. ..,,-,
The next day saw me walking the deck
of A snug. well rugged schooner, ON my way
To a sublime scene of peril that for many
I long year had often come up IN my fancy
a with a strange kind Of fascination. neeu
n not describe my voyage down to the maeI-
~ strom for that is Of no moment in this con
e nection. u.
= From the moment / first heard the dis
tant roar of the maelstrom we sailed III
Is rectIy toward it for more than an hour, the
* roar gradually increasing in volume as We
III neared it, until it became so loud Jhat i
Is was with difficulty that could dlsungulsi
IL the different and sometimes rapid orders
\t the daring fisherman.
No. l can never describe the awful mael
- strom as l saw it and felt it.
on Imagine an area Of million and a hal
am miles in diameter. TO do this fully AM
l,,, comnrehensively YOU should fix your ey
or or your mind upon some object a mile an
If a half from where you are Then tanc
To- this broad space to be all water, moVln
nv round in a circle slowly on the outer edg
,ev Init gradually increasing in velocity U
mn ward the center with a downward lnclln
tion of 45 dogs, so that it looks like a va
the hollow gulf Of awful depth.
zen Then imagine yourself sailing round
ore the outer edge of this immense tunn'
Of with the water black and level on one SIT
Md of YOU and on the other inclined ana ru
,co ming around and downward, rolling, tui
nto bling, rushing, dashing, seething whlrlll
in and boiling, the center dashed into mi
ms white foam and sending up the deaienn
her roar of "A thousand Niagaras
and If to all this you add the fancy that y
the are floating around this awful gun IN
ON frail vessel that seems only an AR puou
mot 40 he sucked i'm and crushed, and whit
hen while driving before the wind, IS now a
lens then caught by a current and turned $
yere eral points toward destruction, so that
-ses master shouts frautiCally and the sall
fire make almost superhuman eNertlons
rs as keen her from rushing madly into the
,ear. tex. and you pray agonizingly, with pre-
susDended and hair standing on END,
we're the vavering balance has inclined TO IN
,nty. if. say, you add this to all the rest
z for get perhaps as good an external OIL
Ibeir SCENE and situation of the behOlder as
tier descriptive powers are able to convey.
half FATE OF A VICTIM.
t to- Amid the bewiderment OF this lndesC
four able scene, my eyes dazzled with the WI
owns ing. rushing, flashing Of the waters,
until ears stunned with their Kissing, dash
,fetv laundering roar, my soul going down
rman the foaming vortex, and thence ohN
ns in into the eternity beyond, the old Usher
from laid one hand upon my arm, pointing
sage, the other and shouted
edu- Look Beholdp'
diff turned and saw one Of the seamen
now ing a large sea bird, to one OF whose
ever was attached a long cord, the other Ell
a. the which was secured to a short, heavy
amen, of timber, which another sailor was II
after act of casting into the sea. As the I'll
yict at struck the water the one holding the
death let him 20, and with a wild scream he
to the length Of his tether and then s.
wal In pled in the air to break his bonds
She escape. But the cord held him, anc
MORN moving timber took gradual inclln
ne rule toward the vortex.
otired With the schooner run safely back
sed to the gyratory draft, watched the bird
cad TO a glass, as the descending timber dr'
II sixty him downward, futtering and screa
prison. and seeming to my excited fancy ike
starved unfortunate spirit Delng uraeseu
Period dition. Round and rounu went VI
nations, Der, slowly at hrst ana WIN sVe 49,
e igno creasing velocity, I'LL at last' VIZ" WIZ.
sian Of jerkings and rapid descent the hu'
nat she bird disappeared from my view;
was re- | had seen enough had rev 1n'
uld re tions Of lifetime compressor lnOO
herself hours-and we sailed away rom UIe
ID came to-be-forgotten scene.-New YORK Ia
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outlined BA
Iem too 49,