The Maelstrom.
--The following passage from a letter from
Norway, published in the Boston Transcript, is interesting to those
whose ideas have heretofore vacillated between a belief in its terrors,
as depicted by representations of large vessels just disappearing
beneath the raging waters, and the frequently circulated modern
statement of its fabulousness:
"The far-famed Maelstrom is found between two of the Southern
islands of the Lofoden group; and from one of these islands it is named
the 'Mosken-stream,' or, in Norwegian, the 'Mosken-stream.' Its violence
greatly depends on the direction and strength of the wind, as well as
on the tides, and the moon's influence thereupon.
It is said to be most violent with gales of westerly winds, and on the
full and change of the moon.
Sometimes a small boat can pass right across it without danger; at other
times it would be dangerous for even a large steamer to approach it.
Not that she would be swallowed up and whirled down to the mermaids, but
that she would probably be turned round, lose her steering, and be
dashed against the surrounding rocks."
Source: Richmond Daily Dispatch, November 2, 1860
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