https://www.404media.co/the-ocean-spectacle-that-has-entranced-sailors-for-centuries/
“No line of horizon was visible; the dead white colour of the water close to the ship as it increased in distance from her very gradually brightened until, where I supposed the horizon to be, it assumed a silvery aspect, which increasing as it ascended became brilliant and dazzling towards the zenith, obscuring the stars and clouds which had before this visitation been distinctly visible.”
A similar tale unfolds over the course of dozens of collected entries. Some mariners threw fireballs into the ocean to literally test the waters, and many crews reported that tiny “animalcules” were seen under microscopes in buckets drawn up from the milky seas.
#MilkySeas #bioluminescence #phosphorescence #maritime #voyage #folklore #superstition #Science #History
