Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1914-06-30
OLD MYTH EXPLODED
Sargasso Sea Not a Graveyard
of the Ocean"
Explorers Have Shown That Popular
Belief Is Erroneous-cold Light
of Science Reveals Truth as
to Ocean Mystery.

The SargSss0 sea has furnished
writer's of nautical stories a subject
Tcr thrilling romano amid the most
unusual surroundings. with variations
Of lest treasure and a vast armada OF
ships, mysteriously lost 10 the world,
held in the great eddy of floating
vegetation. More than one writer. not
dealing With fiction, but seriously dis
GUESSING the proposition with the basis
Of facts at hand, has contended that
the sea was really "a floating con-
tinent." peopled by the crews that had
manned the lost ships.
At any rate. the Sargasso has, all
along, had the charm, the fascination
OF the unknown. But now me ylamor
has been swept aside 5y precise, ex-
ploration. which, while 1t establishes
the cold truth in hard terms, shows US,
who have thrilled at the tales of the
"lost land just what wonderfully
fervid imaginations our good friends
the romancers possessed.
The british steamer Michael Sars,
after a deep-sea exploration Of the
Atlantic. brought back intensely inter
esting data and exhibits The results
Of the observation show that only
comparatively small patches of weed
covered surface cucumber the sea in
the vicinity. and that there is no war
rant for the theory that any number of
ships are held within its embrace. The
fact was duly recognized by Lieut..
Ridgely Hunt of the United States
navy, in charge of the photographic
bureau at that time, who wrote prior
to the return of the English expedi-
ton:
Through the dynamical forces arts
ing from the earth's rotation, which
cause all moving masses in the north
ern hemisphere to tend to be detected
toward the right-haId side of their
path, the algae that are borne by the
Gulf stream from the tropical seas find
their way toward the inner edge of the
cireulatory drift which moves in q
+ clockwise direction around the central
4 part of the North Atlantic ocean. In
! this central part the flow of the sur
face waters is not steady in any direc
ton, and hence the floating seaweeC
tends to accumulate there. Tie ten
dency to accumulate is perhaps mos
observable in me triangular regior
marked out of tie Azores, the Canar
les and the Cape Verde islands, bu
/ much seaweed is $50 found to the
I westward of the middle part Of thi:
/ triangular region in an elongated arei
extending to the SEVENTEEN degree
meridian of west longitude.
THE abundance of seaweed N thu
/ Sargasso sea fluctuates much with tn,
variation of the agencies which &C
count for it's presence, but this offic'
does not possess any authentic records
to show that it has ever been accu
mulated in such amount as material.
to impede vessels in passing over thi
part of the ocean.
"All sorts of small acquatic and in
sect life flourish around the border
of the Sargasso sea. There are mum
Derless varieties Of fish, molluscs
shrimps, crabs and water tieas.
Some of these inhabitants of tn
Il Sargasso sea are found nowhere else
There is transparent shrimp tina
has wondrous eyes on the cad of loni
pedicles. These eyes are many-faceted
and each facet sheds brilliant green
ish light and sparkles like splendi'
gem. The water feas are extraordin
airy also Some are totally blind. whil
others go to the opposite extreme ant
are nearly all eye Even the tishe
are unique. Some build nests il
| which to hatch their Young"