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The word maelstrom is used to denote powerful, inescapable destructive forces. Hence, the word "Maelstrom" appears in diverse contexts metaphorically to make reference to different subjects or objects that suggest great chaotic or sinister forces. In Spanish and other languages, Maelstrom is used as a synonym for whirlpool. The "Norway maelstrom" is also mentioned in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. At the end of this novel, Captain Nemo seems to commit suicide, sending his Nautilus submarine into the Maelstrom (although in Verne's sequel Nemo and Nautilus survived). The second is 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1869), the famous novel by Jules Verne. The first is the Edgar Allan Poe story " A Descent into the Maelström" (1841). Three of the most notable literary references to the Lofoten Maelstrom date from the nineteenth century. Most notably, the tsunami from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake created a maelstrom off Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture, which was videotaped during news coverage and has become a viral video. Tsunamis generated by large earthquakes have historically formed ephemeral whirlpools at points along the area of wave impact, dependent upon submarine topography. Skookumchuck Narrows is a tidal rapids that develops whirlpools, on the Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), Canada.įrench Pass (Te Aumiti) is a narrow and treacherous stretch of water that separates D'Urville Island, at the north end of the South Island of New Zealand, Tsunami-generated maelstroms and whirlpools Naruto whirlpool is located in the Naruto Strait near Awaji Island in Japan. Old Sow whirlpool is located between Deer Island, New Brunswick, Canada, and Moose Island, Eastport, Maine, USA. The mannequin was swallowed and spat up far down current with a depth gauge reading of 262 metres with evidence of being dragged along the bottom for a great distance. Flood tides and inflow from the Firth of Lorne to the west can drive the waters of Corryvreckan to waves of over 30 feet (9 m), and the roar of the resulting maelstrom can be heard ten miles (16 km) away.Ī documentary team from Scottish independent producers Northlight Productions once threw a mannequin into the Corryvreckan ("the Hag") with a life jacket and depth gauge. The Corryvreckan is the third largest whirlpool in the world, and is on the northern side of the Gulf of Corryvreckan, between the islands of Jura and Scarba off the coast of Scotland. A narrow channel connects the outer Saltfjord with its extension, the large Skjerstadfjord, causing a colossal tide which in turn produces the Saltstraumen maelstrom. Its impressive strength is because it is caused by the world's strongest tide occurring in the same location. The maelstrom of Saltstraumen is the world's strongest maelstrom and is located 30 km east of the city of Bodø, Norway. The fictional depictions of the Maelstrom by Edgar Allan Poe and Jules Verne describe it as a gigantic circular vortex that reaches the bottom of the ocean, when in fact it is a set of currents and crosscurrents with a rate of 18 km/hr.
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In Norwegian the most frequently used name is Moskstraumen or Moskenstraumen (current of Mosken).
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The Maelstrom is formed by the conjunction of the strong currents that cross the Straits (Moskenstraumen) between the islands and the great amplitude of the tides. The original Maelstrom (described by Poe and others) is the Moskstraumen, a powerful tidal current in the Lofoten Islands off the Norwegian coast. The maelstrom off Norway, as illustrated by Olaus Magnus on the Carta Marina, 1539.