The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-06-15
DESERTS Of TIE OCEAN
Watery Wastes as Dreary as
Any on Land.
BETWEEN OCEAN LANES.
Generally Supposed that Every Part
OF the 0ea Has Been Travelled,
but Such 10 Not the Case-Much
Remains that Has Never Been

Explored.
Oceans, like continents. have their
deserts. On the high seas there are
vast spaces whose waves have never
been parted by the prov of sailing
vessel or lashed by the propeller of
steamer. Immense solitudes where
the flap Of a sail is never heard nor
the strident cry of siren; ytrltaOie
deserts. whose silence Ia broken only
by the bowling Of the wind and the
roar of waves which nave been vain
ly pursuing one another since the day
Of creation.
These deserts lie forgotten betwixt
the narrow ocean highways travelled
by vessels. In such waste places of
the sea disabled ship, driven out of
Its course by a hurricane, may drift
for months, tossed by the ceaseless
ground swell, without being able to
hail assistance; her only chance of es-
cape is the possibility that some
oceanic current may drag her into a
more frequented region.
1t is generally supposed that by rea-
Time traffic the sea is everywhere fur
rowed by vessels. That is a mistake.
The gradual but constant disappear
ance of sailing ships made the ocean
more of a desert than before. Sailing
vessels had their established routes
IN accordance with winds, currents
and seasons; the gaps between the
~,
outwardbound and home-ward- bound
ships are often considerable.
Moreover, the capricious elements
not infrequently played the mischief
with nautical instructions, and as
result the field of operations for ocean
shipping was vastly extended.
This Is no longer true to-day. The
liner goes straight ahead ia defiance
Of wlAi and wave. The ports between
which she plies are great Industrial
or commercial centers, whittier come
numerous railways, serving as pro-
longations Of the lines Of navigation.
Freight cars carry their loads of mer-
chanaiss to the lesser ports and the
cities Of the interior. The railway
has killed coastwise navigation
The ocean highways are, therefore.
anything but numerous. The most
irequsnted of oceans is the Atlantic.
Apart from polar seas we see that
In it's northern part there is only one
desert zone-a dready waste of wa
ters between the routes from Europe
to the United States or Canada and
those from Europe to the Antilles. In
the south. between the routes from
South America or the western Ameri-
Africa. extends a desert occasionally
traversed by the steamers of the lines
from Cape Town and Mozambique,
which. when the coffee season is at It's
height in Brazil. cross the Atlantic
for cargoes at Rio Janeiro or Santos.
The Indian ocean is frequented only
in the north by lines out of India and
Indo-China, and little In the west by
liners from Oceanica, which call at
Colombo and then make straight for
Australia.
Two lines, each with q steamer a
month. follow slender lane from
Australia to Cape Town. The Pacific
Is the Sahara Of the great seas. Saw
Ing only the steamships from the far
east to California and British Colum-
bia, line from Sydney to San Fran
cisco and a one-horse line with sail
ings four or Ave times year, be-
tween Tahiti and the United States
cava for thasa mara rihhnn-lfl,a ct traako
the Pacific is a desert.
Only . few native canoes ply dar-
ingly from island to island in archi-
pelagoes giSt round with coral reefs
veritably ocean sraveyards. the terror
Of seafaring men.-Le Matin.