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 was the ocean called the Pacific? Who did this? Where did this inappropriate name come from for the ocean, known for its storms, tropical cyclones - typhoons, giant waves? And its coast is not at all calm, here is the famous "ring of fire" from hundreds of active and extinct volcanoes. So the one who called the Pacific Ocean was quietly mistaken. Let's try to figure it out.
Why was the ocean called the Pacific?
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, became known much later.
Magellan's expedition was the first to cross the Pacific Ocean. And we owe it to her that the ocean received this name.
There is some irony of fate in that the first travelers across the unknown ocean did not see either violent waves or strong storms. On the contrary, they were first lucky. A fresh tailwind blew up the sails, and the ships quickly moved west.
But gradually the wind died down until finally it was replaced by an almost complete calm. The sails hung without movement, the waves were invisible, only slight ripples sometimes rolled over the surface of the water ... That's why Magellan called the Pacific Ocean.
Dangerous silence
The ocean was called Pacific because Magellan’s ships “stuck” in the middle of it. Food reserves are long gone, drinking water is rotten. The sailors suffered not only from hunger and thirst, but also from scurvy. The main occupation of the sailors was the hunt for rats, it helped replenish food supplies. Even hard pieces of skin from the masts went into the cauldron, which were soaked for several days in sea water, and then chewed ...
Among the sailors were those who called the Pacific Ocean a “silent 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 lay dying of hunger and scurvy. The first islands that came in the way 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 plundered by the locals who grabbed everything that was on deck. And the weakened sailors could not show 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 entering the Pacific Ocean, they were able to replenish supplies of water and food. And later they went to the Philippine Islands. On one of them, Magellan died in a skirmish with local residents, engaging in a war on the side of one of the leaders. The satellites had to complete their journey without him.
Travel summary
We know the result: out of 260 people who went with Magellan, only 18 returned. There was a truly open ocean, seen by Balboa. It was first 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 greatly hampered by calm weather. In the days of sailing ships, this was a very serious problem. This is the reason why the ocean was called the Pacific.
But the main result - for the first time, people were convinced of the spherical shape of the Earth, because the expedition of Magellan was the first trip around the world.
Is the Pacific so quiet?
The ocean is large not only in area. He owns a record of depth. Everyone knows the Mariana Trench with its 11 km depth, but deeper than 10,000 m and the Tonga, Kermadek, and Philippine troughs.
Wind waves with a height of up to 30 m have been recorded in the ocean. For such hulks to appear, a wind speed of more than 120 km / h is necessary. But in some parts of the Pacific Ocean, wind speeds of up to 49 m / s are recorded, which means almost 180 km / h!
Such strong winds are observed in the south of the ocean, in the interval from New Zealand to Antarctica. But 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 severe storms, giant waves are also dangerous - tsunamis resulting from seismic processes (earthquakes and underwater volcanic eruptions). The destructive earthquake and tsunami that occurred in Japan in March 2011 and claimed more than 25 thousand lives are still not forgotten. And such waves are not so rare here.
It was in the Pacific Ocean that the highest tsunami wave was noted, reaching a height of 600 m. It happened in 1958 in Alaska.
Along the Russian coast, tsunamis also occurred repeatedly. In 1952, the wave destroyed the city of Severo-Kurilsk. And in 1737, the tsunami height of 30 fathoms (60 m) was noted on the island of Paramushir ! Fortunately, then in this area there was no permanent population.
Here it is, the Great Ocean! Colossal, stormy, formidable, dangerous ... And only by chance 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.