| Show OMANS OCEANS GRAVEYARD RD I 1 I 1 f rhe HE WONDERFUL SARGASSO SEA OF THE GREAT ATLANTIC the Plo atins semi island to which nearly everything on the mighty y deep drifts and I 1 held a a prisoner its inhabitants for several years past the hydrographic bureau at washington has been trying to acquire a more intimate kno knowledge wl of the movements of the waters of the ocean and a great number of bottles containing messages and securely corked have been dropped overboard by vessels assels many of these have floated thousands of miles before they were picked up and while some som e were washed upon apon native and foreign chorea others have found their way into the great sargasso sea from the courses taken by these dif ferent bottles it has been found that tho ocean currents move around iu in ava a vast circle those which were dropped overboard on the american coast took a northerly course while those on the european side eide floated toward the south 1 bottles dropped overboard in the thelT north orth atlantic started toward the northeast 1 and those from the african or spanish coast floated almost directly west until they reached the west india is islands lanAs the general directions of the currents were thus ascertained showing th atthe the waters acted upon by winds and currents oure cure circulated round and round like lik e a pool lif in all pools floating objects are quickly lacast cast outside of the revolving currents or they are carried with them in their circular route for some time until they are washed nearer the center or side of the pool the bottles that were forced outside of the currents of tho the ocean were bait cast upon the shores of some country I 1 but those which h were worked toward I 1 the cen center ter eventually found their way in the calm waters of the sargasso sea heze here they remain peacefully until picked up by some vessel tessel or until some storm casts them back into the great pool I 1 vessels very rarely visit the great sea ilea in the tha middle of the ocean but occasionally sio Fio nally they are driven there by storms stormi or adverse winds strange sights meet I 1 1 the gaze of the sailors at such times wonderful stories partly true and partly 71 false have been told by sailors returning from a forced t trip ip i to the sargasso sea the surface of the sea is covered with floating wrecks spars seaweed 1 boxes fruits and a thousand other innumerable articles it is the great repository tory or storehouse of the ocean and i all things thing which do not sink to the bottom or are not washed upon the shores are carried to this center of the sea when one considers the vast number of ef wrecks arec ks on the ocean and the quantity of floating material that is thrown overboard a faint idea of the wreckage in the sarg sargasso asso sea may be conceived derelicts or abandoned vessels frequently disappear in mysterious ways and no accounts are given of them for i years by passing vessels then suddenly years later they appear again in some well traveled route to the astonishment of all the wrecks are covered with mould and green slime showing the long lonesome voyage which they have passed through it is generally supposed that such derelicts have been swept into the center of the pool andre and remained in the sargasso sea until finally cast out by some unusually violent storm the life in this sea is interesting solitary and alone the acres of waters covered with the debris stretch out as tho the vast graveyard of the ocean seldom being visited by vessels or human beings far from all trading routes of vessels the tha sight of a or something unusual the fishes of the tha sea form fona the chief life of those watery solitudes attracted by the vast vase quantities of wreckage floating in thelea tho sea and also by the gulfweed gulf weed on which many of them live they swarm around in a great numbers the smaller fishes it UTO ve in the intricate avenues formed by the seaweed and the more ferocious denizens of the deep come hither to feed upon the quantities of small fish in this way the submarine life of the sargasso sea is I 1 made ade interesting and lively tho the only life overhead is that made by a few sea birds which occasionally ly rea reach cli the solitudes of this mid ocean cemetery A few of the long iong flyers of ee the air penetrate to the very middle of the ocean but it is very rarely that this occurs some have been known to follow vessels across the ocean keeping at I 1 a respectful distance from the tha stern other birds have been swept out to sea by stor storms insi and have finally sought bought re ret f age in the sargasso sea still others taking refuge e on some derel derelict ici have hava been gradually carried to the same mid ocean scene there la is sufficient food floating on the surface or to be obtained from the fishes which live among the forests of seaweed to supper support a large laige colony of birds it is is surmised that many of those found I 1 in the sea have inhabited those regions for years par partly aly from choice and partly from necessity birds swept out there by storms would not care to venture the long return trip to land and finding an abundance of food and wrecks on which to rest and rear their young they might easily become contented with their strange lot just how far the strong winged sea birds can fly without resting ia is all conjectural but it is doubtful if many of them would undertake such a long journey seaward with no better prospects ahead than dreary wastes of water ter detroit free press |
