The Pacific Ocean is the largest on our planet. The area it occupies exceeds the area of all the continents and islands taken together. It is about 180 million square meters. km against 149 million occupied by land. Therefore, his second name is Great.
So why is the ocean called the Pacific? Who did this? Where did this inappropriate name come from for an ocean famous for its storms, tropical cyclones - typhoons, giant waves? And its coast is by no means calm, here is the famous "ring of fire" of hundreds of active and extinct volcanoes. So the one who called the Pacific Ocean quiet was very wrong. Let's try to figure it out.
Why is the ocean called the Pacific Ocean?
Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the first European to see the Pacific Ocean, called it the "South Sea". After all, it is located south of the Isthmus of Panama, which was crossed by the Spaniards led by him. And the fact that this is a huge ocean, surpassing all the others in size, became known much later.
Magnellan's expedition was the first to cross the Pacific Ocean. And it is to her that we owe the ocean its name.
There is some irony in the fact that the first travelers across the unknown ocean did not see any rough waves or strong storms. On the contrary, they were lucky at first. A fresh fair wind inflated the sails, and the ships quickly moved west.
But gradually the wind subsided, until finally it was replaced by almost complete calm. The sails hung motionless, the waves were imperceptible, only light ripples sometimes rolled over the surface of the water … That's why Magellan called the ocean the Pacific.
Dangerous silence
The Pacific Ocean was named because Magellan's ships were "stuck" in the middle of it. Food supplies have long ended, drinking water is rotten. The sailors suffered not only from hunger and thirst, but also from scurvy. The main occupation of the sailors was hunting for rats, she helped replenish food supplies. Even tough pieces of skin from the masts went into the cauldron, which were soaked in sea water for several days, and then chewed …
There were those among sailors who called the Pacific Ocean a "silent killer". After all, this calm water turned out to be more dangerous than the stormy Atlantic.
The long-awaited rescue or…
By the time the wind blew again, two dozen sailors were dying of hunger and scurvy. The first islands that came across did not bring relief either: some were surrounded by sharp reefs, others were just lifeless rocks sticking out of the water … And on the islands called"Thieves", Magellan's sailboats were simply robbed by local residents, who snapped up everything that was on the deck. And the weakened sailors could not offer them serious resistance and only thanked God that the population of the islands turned out to be not bloodthirsty.
And only after more than three months from entering the Pacific Ocean, they were able to replenish their water and food supplies. And then they went to the Philippine Islands. On one of them, Magellan died in a skirmish with the locals, getting involved in the war on the side of one of the leaders. The companions had to complete their journey without him.
Trip summary
The result is known to us: of the 260 people who went with Magellan, only 18 returned. The ocean, seen by Balboa, was truly open. For the first time it was crossed from east to west, and in the most deserted place, where there are very few islands. This almost led to the death of the entire expedition.
Swimming was hampered by calm weather. In the days of sailboats, this was a very serious problem. This is the reason why the Pacific Ocean was named.
But the main result - for the first time people were convinced of the spherical shape of the Earth, because Magellan's expedition became the first trip around the world.
Is the Pacific Ocean so quiet?
The ocean is big not only in area. He also owns the depth record. Everyone knows the Mariana Trench with its 11 km depth, but deeper than 10,000 m and the Tonga, Kermadec, Philippine depressions.
Wind waves up to 30 m high have been registered in the ocean. Tosuch giants appeared, a wind speed of more than 120 km / h is needed. But some parts of the Pacific Ocean have recorded wind speeds of up to 49 m/s, which means almost 180 km/h!
Such strong winds are noted in the south of the ocean, in the interval from New Zealand to Antarctica. But the typhoons that occur in the northeastern part, off the coast of Japan, the Kuril Islands and Kamchatka, are slightly inferior to them in strength. Here the wind reaches 47-48 m/s.
In addition to the strongest storms, gigantic waves - tsunamis, generated as a result of seismic processes (earthquakes and underwater volcanic eruptions) are also dangerous. The devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011 and claimed more than 25,000 lives have not yet been forgotten. And such waves are not so rare here.
It was in the Pacific Ocean that the highest wave-tsunami was noted, reaching a height of 600 m. It happened in 1958 in Alaska.
Tsunamis have also happened more than once near the Russian coast. In 1952, a wave destroyed the city of Severo-Kurilsk. And in 1737, a tsunami height of 30 fathoms (60 m) was noted on Paramushir Island! Fortunately, there was no permanent population in the area at the time.
Here it is, the Great Ocean! Colossal, stormy, formidable, dangerous … And only an accident became the reason why the ocean was called the Pacific. Magellan and his companions were very lucky with calm weather. Otherwise, the world would have known about this grandiose natural object much later.
