Lowtide

Only about 60 percent of cultivated

oysters live to yield pearls, and only 2 to 3 percent produce gem-quality pearls.

There are hundreds of species of sea

cucumbers, ranging from a few inches to a foot long in temperate regions.

The frigate bird was formerly called

the man-o’-war bird. A California sea lion can dive to

depths of 1,000 feet, about the height of the Eiffel Tower.

A California sea lion can swim at

speeds of 25 mph, faster than any other sea lion, seal or walrus.

Large numbers of sea lions were

slaughtered along the California coast in the early 19th century. The blubber was used for oil and the skins were used for making glue.

Sea lions, of which there are 14

species worldwide, use their front flippers to propel them through water, while their back flippers are used like a rudder. On land, their flippers are used like legs, and they can outpace a man.

In spite of its great mass, a blue whale can reach speeds of 10 to 15 knots.

A blue whale can dive to 1,600 feet and lie submerged for up to two hours. Sperm whales protect an injured

member of their clan by gathering around it in what’s known as a Marguerite formation, whereby they encircle it as it lies in the middle.

Mares’ tails are featherlike cirrus clouds foretelling bad weather.

The word mariner originally meant

a person skilled in the craft of the sea, as opposed to the mere seaman, and is still preserved in this sense in the term master mariner.

The poop in the poop deck of a ship

comes from the Latin puppis, meaning hull.

The Middle Passage was the Atlantic

Ocean between Africa and the West Indies. It was the middle trip of the slaver’s triangular voyage.

A mud hook is an old seaman’s slang term for an anchor.

The word passport originally meant

a permission to trade, given in time of war by naval commanders to merchant vessels.

To go to pieces is said of a ship

completely demolished by the sea, and may be the origin of the shorebound phrase, to become emotionally upset.

The full-rigged ship Bethia, built in

1783, was purchased in 1787 by Great Britain’s Navy Board to be fitted out as the HMS Bounty.

A four-foot, 10-second wave striking

a coast expends more than 35,000 horsepower per mile of coast.

48° NORTH, MAY 2010 PAGE 30

MARITIME TRIVIA

BY BRYAN HENRY

Blue whales were called sulphur-

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