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SARGASSO SEA

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 219 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SARGASSO See also:

SEA , a See also:tract of the See also:North See also:Atlantic Ocean, covered with floating seaweed (Sargassum, originally named sargaco by the Portuguese). This tract is bounded approximately by 25° and 3o° N. and by 38° and 6o W., but its extent varies according to winds and ocean currents. By these agencies the See also:weed is carried and massed together, the See also:original source of See also:supply being probably the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of See also:Mexico (see See also:ALGAE). Similar circumstances See also:lead to the existence of other similar tracts covered with floating weed, e.g. in the solitary See also:part of the Pacific Ocean, north of the Hawaiian islands, between 3o and 40° N. and between 150° and 18o° W. There is a smaller tract S.E. of New See also:Zealand, and along a See also:belt of the See also:southern ocean extending from the See also:Falkland Islands, See also:south of See also:Africa and south-See also:west of See also:Australia, similar floating See also:banks of weed are encountered. The Sargasso Sea was discovered by See also:Columbus, who on his first voyage was involved in it for about a fortnight. The widely credited possibility of See also:ships becoming embedded in the weed, and being unable to See also:escape, is disproved by the expedition of the " See also:Michael Sara," under the direction of See also:Sir See also:John See also:Murray and the See also:Norwegian See also:government, in 1910, which found the See also:surface covered with weed only in patches, not continuously.

End of Article: SARGASSO SEA

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