Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 December 1903 — THE MILKY SEA. [ARTICLE]

THE MILKY SEA.

a Curious light Occasionally Witnessed In Tropical Wntera. Of the many sights witnessed In the aceans of the globe, one of the most curious and most weird is that described by 88 tlora as “the milky sea," ships being surrounded for several hours by water that appears to be a snowy whiteness. The spectacle is restricted to the darkness of night and rare occasions, and, while it is limited mainly to the warmer waters of the tropical belt, it appears to be more common in the Indian ocean than in the Atlantic and Pacific. From the white water the light is so strong that ordinary newspaper print can be read on board ship, but the scene all round is of an awe inspiring description. The horizon is blotted out, sea and sky seem to become one in a sort of universal luminous fog, which, like a London fog, robs the observer of the sense of distance and direction, the deck being lit up with a ghastly, shadowless light. Once off the west coast of South America a bucket of the white water emptied back into the sea resembled molten lead. This curious sight has interested scientific investigators, but while it is no doubt related to the many phosphorescent displays common at sea there is no sufficient explanation forthcoming of this particular manifestation or of the singular atmospheric effects resulting from it.