Since ancient times, there is a kind of post as "Mail Neptune." Since ancient times, when there was no radio and a single international signal for help. Then the sailors often resorted to bottling process with an important message, we conclude, as a rule, the last "sorry" in the face of imminent death. Ordinariness and accessibility of such tools are undeniable. One should remember that the glass bottles known to mankind for thousands of years, and that the world's first bottle factory only appeared in 1290. All kinds of ceramic have significantly more experience. Having them on hand in difficult times of life, it does not make itself felt short message, using the property bottle long stay afloat?
Here's an example of one of these sad letters found in a glass container.
«July, 1750. Bretren of the Coast burns in the middle of the Atlantic. Vain hope of saving any of the crew is nothing, but the twelve who seized the boat. My mother Elizabeth from Londonderry - do not cry for me. For my father Thomas Dryden – you take care of my mother and younger sisters. It is ashamed to look around. Braves were scoundrels and their cry, cry like babies, fills the air. The monsters of the deep sea await those of us who dare to escape by swimming. We have hundreds of miles from any shore. My captain trying maintains order unsuccessfully. I expect death in silence. God will reward the finder so this letter. Please pass on my “…
Often the message in the bottle is the only evidence of the fate of the ship and crew. Not by chance in old England, the former great sea power, under penalty of death is prohibited to open or break up caught in the water vessels.
Taking care of the safety messages from the sea, the British Queen Elizabeth I established a unique position - Royal bottle opener brought by sea. English law on the death penalty for any other lover of mysterious repealed only in the late eighteenth century.
The following fact says on enormous importance of bottle-mail in those ancient times.
In 1845 two test-expedition vehicles Erebus and Terror went under command Captain John Franklin to the harsh latitude: from the Atlantic to the Bering Sea. Brave sailors set out to find the Northwest Passage of ice around Canada and throughout North America, but none of the one hundred and thirty-eight crew members returned home. Nevertheless, we know that an experienced Franklin entrusted sea elements of several hundred messages in glass and bronze vessels. In each of his note, among other information, the captain pointed out the exact position and location of the expeditionary ships.
His last letter Franklin sent 12 July 1845 from the island of Disco. "I hope to go out tonight to Lancaster Strait," reported navigator. That was then - nobody knows.
Three years later, in 1848, in search of the missing, among other rescuers went to the Antarctic by Captain James Ross, who commanded the Erebus and Terror during his trip to the Arctic seas of the Southern Ocean. Experienced polar explorer also believed in bottled mail and almost threw into the sea every day carefully sealed position reports...
Unfortunately, not always the god of the sea Neptune with due care and respect refers to the messages sailors. A lot of bias in the way he manages ocean currents, and not to consider the vicissitudes of fate in the bottle-mail.
Sent in 1750 with the message on the burning in the middle of the Atlantic from Bret office Costa was only discovered in 1957 in the northern shore of the island of Jamaica. And for the past more than 150 years, the world has learned the contents of only three vessels, abandoned at sea expedition of John Franklin.
A note on the death in 1841 sailing paddle steamer President picked up in the ocean after eight months.
The age-old mystery has been the fate of a merchant ship Albatross. Post commander named Captain Allen Grant for assistance lucky enough to catch the Soviet seamen tuntselova "Obdorsk." But, alas! It was nothing to help. Because, as it turned out, the coordinates of an uninhabited island at the time, on the menacing rocks which a century ago was wrecked crew of Captain Grant, consistent with the current coordinates of the island Principe, where currently there is a large city and a deep-water port.
On special ingenuity of Neptune can be judged by the Japanese naval dispatch Hanasuka Matus (in another transcription Matsuyama). The thirst for adventure and treasure hunting has caused the Japanese to the open sea, but in 1784, as a result of the shipwreck Matusiyama among other forty-four sailors stranded on a desert island in the coral in the Pacific Ocean. Dying of thirst and hunger adventurer scribbled on a piece of bark of its history, sealed it in a bottle and entrusted her sea. Ocean delivered the message with incredible accuracy: on the shore near the village where he was born Matusiyama. But after a century and a half!
Fifty years of the number of missing British steamer Brunswick. Right at home, to the shores of Albion, in the Bristol Bay delivered Neptune glass envelope dying sailors. It was reported that the ship Brunswick sank in a storm off Cape Horn.
Connoisseurs of sea stories with interest the original bottle-mail records. The story, in December 1935 one unsuspecting people walking along the shore of the Pacific Ocean in the harbor of Vancouver found overgrown with slime bottle and, of course, opened it. It was British Times at date of November 1899 with a note in the margin: "Anyone who is interested: the note thrown on board Kraunprinses Cecill 8 November 1899 off the coast of Sweden. God, save the Queen! Captain Charles Uayrishan".
The bottle had been in the path 36, and the Queen, who wished well-being, had died two years before finding the message, probably died and its author. But the most important thing is that the "mail" from the Atlantic to the coast of Sweden, breaking the Strait of Magellan, (and, perhaps, going around Tierra del Fuego in South America) sailed safely into the Pacific Ocean to the east coast of Canada.
A plastic bottle thrown into the water off the coast of Scotland has set a speed record of sea travel in our time, covered the distance of 20,000 miles in 47 days.
According to a report in The Independent on October 13, 2006, letter, sealed in a bottle, sent a six-year girl Kelly Reed, a rest with his grandparents on the Scottish coast in the Moray Firth (Moray Firth).
It is hoped that this bottle is found off the coast of Norway. However, Kelly was very surprised when she wrote to her counterparts from New Zealand, James Wilson, who discovered the message.
It is estimated that every bottle covered the distance of 425 miles at an average speed of 18 miles per hour. Modern cruise liner covers the distance from Scotland to New Zealand for 40 days, with the advantage of time as passes through the Panama and Suez canals.
According to the most Kelly Reed, it is not at all surprised that it made it to a bottle of New Zealand. Three years ago, a girl and threw the bottle into the sea off the coast of Scotland Aberdour (Aberdour), and two years later, her message found in the Netherlands local swimmer.
However, the experts fisheries protection station in Aberdeen, Scotland (Aberdeen) believe that the bottle could not swim to New Zealand without human intervention. "Either someone has transported her to this country, or
she got there as a result of certain weather events. But to swim to the other side of the planet at sea for such term message Kelly Reid just could not, "- said the station researcher Professor Bill Turrell.
The fixed record for distance travel belong bottle, lowered into the water of the Pacific Ocean May 27, 1945. December 3rd, 1968 it picked up on the shore of the island of Sylt (Germany), and during this time she made her way up in the Earth's equator - forty thousand kilometers.
For 1271 day - swam bottle thrown in the South Atlantic Ocean and discovered off the west coast of New Zealand. But, as the estimated average speed of it was truly a reactive - eight and a half miles per day.
Another kind of achievement - the residence time "bottle" in the arms of sea element - is well established back in 1856.
It all started with a rather unfortunate voyage brig Grif on Biskay in the stormy bay. Weathered the storm the ship had to be repaired by one of the bays near Gibraltar. On the ship began emergency work, and the captain decided to move down to the shore to hunt. By the time he returned it was dark, the wind and the boat zasvezhel needed ballast.
At the direction of the captain and sailors touch eversion was laid on the bottom of their swimming facilities a few boulders. Fortunately, the sailors threw the extra weight immediately upon arrival to the ship. But in the morning they were surprised to find at the bottom of the boat among the boulders small barrel, drastically overgrown with barnacles.
Inside the barrel was filled with resin coconut, and in it - parchment with Gothic letters. It was a disturbing message of Christopher Columbus to the king and queen of Spain to the death of Santa Maria and the refusal of Spanish pilots with Ni;a obey him. The report of a desperate mover proskitalos in the ocean and had been lying on the bank of 358 years!
By the way, the barrel, as the vehicle is much safer bottle.
The glass bubbles can be broken on the rocks or sinking as a result of fouling algae. Large marine animals constantly strive to swallow them. Particularly different in this part of the shark, them extraordinary voracity is well known. So, a long time ago, in a note found in the stomach of marine predator caught, it was surprisingly found that the rich and well-respected planter from Jamaica Elia McCormick is an accomplice of the dreaded pirates and Graham that the complete disappearance of some merchant ships - the fruits of malicious cooperation these two "honorable" gentlemen. In the same way, in the early nineteenth century, sailors from the crew of HMS "Centurion" in the guts found a huge shark swallowed it somewhere jewelry box.
In short, with a bottle - because of its fragility and its small size - can be dangerous Perepetui. Therefore, as already mentioned, for mail delivery across the seas and oceans are often used barrels.
In addition to Columbus barrels of tar dumped in the sea, and James Ross, who went in search of John Franklin expedition. And for some time into the everyday life of oceanic mail Neptune entered and wooden buoys with specially drilled holes and a sealed cartridges.
In order to study the surface currents of twenty signal floating signs were deliberately dropped in 1935 on board the icebreaker ship Sadko in the Greenland Sea. Just five months, most scientific envoys appeared off the coast of Iceland. And before you get there, one of the buoys afloat lasted 174 days.
So far, the Research Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic in St. Petersburg store displacer-traveler, dropped by scientists on board the icebreaker "Cheliuskin" during his famous "through" flight across the Arctic Ocean.
After 38 years the marine poster had been found near Wrangel Island. In a wooden box - safe and sound - rested sealed glass vial inside which was card and scientists.
In the end, in order to give themselves news people can use any more or less a floating object that turned out to be handy. So did a sailor from the cargo ship Seksilbi already in the days of radio and signal SOS.
The ship disappeared during its route from the U.S.A. to Jordan with a cargo of iron ore. But if does he die? For three years there was no way to establish the fact of the real death Seksilbi. Only 23 April 1936 on the coast of England Uellse found jar from the cocoa, which was a note, written hastily crewman on Joe Kane. “Our steamboat Seksilbi is drowning in the Irish coast. Hello sisters and brothers Dean". The savvy issued this jar cann cocoa with the last words of a poor sailor on shore near the town of Eberdovi, where his family lived.
Here is another marine witness the tragedy in our own recent times in the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean.
Here, in the Kuril Islands, at the beginning of 1960, was a fierce storm ripped the anchor self-propelled barge with four Soviet soldiers guarding it. Here are their names: A.Ziganshin, F.Poplavsky, A.Kryuchkovsky, F.Fedotov. Forty-nine days and nights, they selflessly fought with the sea, experiencing the torments of dehydration and lack of food.
Just a day before their rescue by U.S. aircraft carriers, Soviet soldiers wrote the note, which was placed in a sealed cartridge cases. Nylon thread are tied to a pole sleeve, attached to a glass bowl on fishing net, pick up in the ocean. On top of a pole was installed a homemade naval flag of the USSR.
Note foursome, who has borne the tragic adventure of their fame to the whole world, so far no one has been found. Who will be the recipient of it? From that time there was only a life-affirming song:
"Ziganshin - boogie!
Poplawski - rock!..
Fedotov ate the other boot! "
Looking over at the memory of what is known about Neptune-mail, you can remember about how she helped discover shipwrecks with gold, as after the Second World War with the bottles thrown into the Pacific Ocean, it was possible to establish the direction in which drifted had dropped their anchors Japanese mines. And if do we turn to science?
Findings of the marine-mail for a long time scientists have applied a good idea. In all corners of the earth they are thrown into the sea thousands of carefully corked and sealed bottles indicating the place, time and purpose of the proposed experiment. For those who find and return, was appointed reward. And countless bottles of science again soon fell into the hands of scientists, shedding light on the mysteries of the sea currents, their path, speed, and interaction with other currents.
One of these researchers threw bottles at the southern tip of Australia. The missile scientists spent six years on the road and eight months.
First, the bottle washed up on the west coast of South America. Here it five times and caught at the request of scientists, printed so that it can be seen through the glass, again sent off. Then the bottle went around Cape Horn. Its found in the Atlantic, caught in the Indian Ocean. Until finally, avoiding detours the globe, she returned to Australia and did not complete its existence on the west coast, the port city of Bunbury.
The first such study in the Black Sea Russian scientists conducted in 1864. And in 1955 on the banks of the river Kurdichinoy farmer-Yakut found a bottle that has been cast as in the pre-Soviet era 15 August 1913 hydrographic expedition to the Arctic Ocean transportation "Taimyr". On the back of the sheet was the address where should send the find: "Russia, Saint-Petersburg, Central hydrographic office." Yakut long remained at a loss. St. Petersburg at that time did not exist, and was Leningrad, but Yakut did not know anything about it.
At present, the function of bottled-mail as tear requests for assistance perishing, is practically reduced to zero. Today it is simply a means of human communication, coupled with a pleasant surprise... There are cases where the sailors through bottle-mail, safely settle their private affairs.
One such occurred in 1979. Father Wincenty Parassi eighteen, a fisherman from the Italian village of Calabria, fished in the sea stoppered bottle and brought it home to show his daughter. In the bottle they found the letter of 26 year-old sailor Karl Christian from Norway. The letter suggested sad sailor - whether to find the girl of his message - the hand and heart. When the text of the letter was carefully transferred to the girl without much thought otpisala consent to the specified address.
More than twenty years has history of good relations between workers of Murmansk Trawl Fleet and residents Norwegian island Finney, which began as a rare way. Meeting the New Year, happy Soviet fishermen sent by sea a short note: "All citizens of the world! We, the sailor’s trawler-251 Gogol, congratulations to all the people of the world a happy holiday! We wish for the new year of peace in the world, a large human happiness!"
Two years later a bottle which set sail on the seas, the waves of the appeal - a surprisingly well - washed up on shore, where she found a twelve-year-finneysky Islander Odd Tour. He started to learn Russian language from Oslo signalman Gunnar Rabbos. So lively began correspondence between Murmansk fishermen, Norwegian signalman and the islanders of Finnmark.
And not so long ago merry-bottles postmen increased. And for sure: two thousand. That's how much they were thrown into the sea sailors of Portugal in the days when their country was preparing to celebrate the holiday of national culture - the day communities. In each bottle - a congratulatory message addressed to the Portuguese living abroad. And in the 20 flasks - an additional surprise: a free travel ticket to Portugal.
True in this case, the saying of the sea and oceans together people from different continents. But the planet Earth is just one spark of 250 billion stars in the Milky Way system. At the dawn of the space age interstellar space seem boundless ocean and the man stand up, seemingly unanswerable questions.
For example, how can we to communicate with the intelligents being on other planets and other worlds. Can we only by the radio? No! The scientists today are the same as the sailors at the time of the ancient seafaring. We have the spacecrafts, does not it? After the task this is very similar to drop the glass bottle, traveling at the behest of gravity waves and winds.
The first message of people into space, developed on the basis of the latest achievements of science and technology, metal pennant was placed on the Soviet automatic interplanetary station Luna-1, which started the journey in space January 2, 1959.
On board its pioneers, American scientists have placed metal plates that contain minimal information about the Earth and the solar system. The two Voyagers, passed near Jupiter and Saturn, carry a more complex message.
On board each of the Voyager as in a bottle was bottled up and thrown into the ocean of space video records with a special device that converts the audio signal to the TV picture. 118 pictures tell about us, about our planet and civilization, 90 minutes devoted to music. To get a more complete story, the message is included in the twelve-minute audio review. With record sound volcanoes, earthquakes, storms, wind howling, banging on the roof of the rain, pop croaking frogs and crickets, birds sing, shout hyena, trumpeting elephants coming to water, sound man's steps, his laugh, his relentless beating heart.
Not forgotten and the sea. The aliens - if it happens - will hear how noisy ocean surf and return to the harbor as the ships. Among the fifty-five greeting neighbors in the Americas, written in different languages of the peoples of the world, sound and in Russian: «Здравствуйте, приветствую Вас!» (Hello, I welcome you!).
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The Truth and the Legends оf the Ocean Great
The Legends and the Truth of the Great Ocean by Vladimir Morgan
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