Why was the ocean called Quiet and not Great?

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 its second name is the Great.

So why the ocean was called Quiet? Who did it? Where did this unsuitable name come from for the ocean, known for its storms, tropical cyclones - typhoons, giant waves? And its coast is not at all distinguished by tranquility, here is the famous "fire ring" of hundreds of active and extinct volcanoes. So the one who called the Pacific quiet, was very wrong. Let's try to figure this out.

Why was the ocean called Quiet?

Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the first Europeans to see the Pacific, called it the "Southern Sea". After all, it is located south of the Isthmus of Panama, which was crossed by the Spaniards led by him. And that this huge ocean, surpassing the size of all the others, became known much later.

The expedition of Magellan was the first to cross the Pacific Ocean. And it is to her that we owe that the ocean got this name.

There is some irony in the fact that the first travelers through an unknown ocean did not see any stormy waves or strong storms. On the contrary, they were lucky first. A fresh fair wind blew the sails, and the ships quickly moved westward.

But gradually the wind subsided, until finally it was replaced by almost complete calm. The sails hung without movement, the waves were invisible, only a slight ripple sometimes rolled over the surface of the water ... That's why Magellan called the ocean Quiet.

Dangerous silence

The ocean was called Silent, because Magellan's ships were "stuck" in the middle of it. Stocks of food have long ended, drinking water has become stale. Sailors suffered not only from hunger and thirst, but also from scurvy. The main occupation of the sailors was hunting for rats, it helped to replenish food supplies. In the boiler went even hard pieces of leather from the masts, which for several days soaked in sea water, and then chewed ...

Among the sailors were those who called the Pacific "a quiet killer." After all, this calm water was more dangerous than the stormy Atlantic.

The long-awaited salvation or ...

By the time the wind blew again, two dozen sailors were dying of starvation and scurvy. The first islands on the way also did not bring relief: 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 ripped off by the locals, snatched everything that was on deck. And the weakened sailors could not give them serious resistance and only thanked God for the fact that the population of the islands was not bloodthirsty.

And only after more than three months from reaching the Pacific Ocean, they were able to replenish supplies of water and food. And later came to the Philippine Islands. On one of them Magellan was killed in a skirmish with the local residents, got involved in the war on the side of one of the leaders. Satellites had to finish their journey without him.

Results of the trip

The result is known to us: out of 260 people who went with Magellan, only 18 returned back. The ocean that Balboa saw was truly open. It was first crossed from east to west, and in the most desolate place, where there are very few islands. This nearly led to the death of the entire expedition.

Swimming was greatly hampered by windless weather. In the days of sailboats this was a very serious problem. This is the reason why the ocean was called Silent.

But the main result - for the first time people were convinced of the spherical form of the Earth, after all the expedition of Magellan became the first round-the-world trip.

So is the Pacific still quiet?

The ocean is great not only in terms of area. He owns a record of depth. Everyone knows the Mariana Trench with its 11 km depth, but deeper 10,000 m and Tonga, Kermadec, Philippine hollows.

In the ocean, wind waves with a height of up to 30 m are recorded. In order for such hulks to appear, a wind speed of more than 120 km / h is needed. But in some parts of the Pacific Ocean, wind speed is registered 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 of the country, off the coast of Japan, the Kurile Islands and Kamchatka, are inferior to them in strength. Here the wind reaches 47-48 m / s.

In addition to the strongest storms, giant waves - tsunamis, which are formed as a result of seismic processes (earthquakes and underwater volcanic eruptions) also represent a danger. The devastating earthquake and tsunami that occurred in Japan in March 2011 and killed more than 25,000 lives have not yet been forgotten. And such waves are not so rare here.

It was in the Pacific that the highest tsunami wave was recorded, reaching a height of 600 m. It happened in 1958 in Alaska.

Russian tsunami coasts have also happened many times. In 1952, the wave destroyed the city of Severo-Kurilsk. And in 1737 on the island Paramushir was marked the height of the tsunami of 30 fathoms (60 m)! Fortunately, then there was no permanent population in this region.

That's it, the Great Ocean! Colossal, stormy, formidable, dangerous ... And only chance has become the reason why the ocean was called Silent. Magellan with the satellites was very lucky with calm weather. Otherwise, the world would have learned about this grandiose natural object much later.