From Scientific American, Feb 1847
apparently in 1857 “I have been informed by a European acquaintance” was sufficient sourcing for something to be published in Scientific American :)
somewhat relatedly, it’s 2025 now so you can actually link to a thing instead of just posting a screenshot of it: scientificamerican.com/…/that-giant-sucking-sound…
i wonder why this screenshot (and OP’s text which includes the fact that this comes from scientific american, which is not included in the screenshot) both say 1847 while the text on the SciAm website says it’s actually from 1857 🤔
bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 7 months ago
“whirlpool on the coast of Norway […] appointed by the King of Denmark […] as smooth as any other part of the German ocean”
This sounds very badly hallucinated.
_skj@lemmy.world 7 months ago
The names Norway and Denmark are old and predate 1847 by centuries. “German Ocean” is an old term for the North Sea.
Norway was independent from Denmark at that point in time. So it was off the coast of Norway in the German Ocean (North Sea). And the expedition was sent by the king of Denmark, a nearby seafaring nation.
StrongHorseWeakNeigh@piefed.social 7 months ago
Thanks for the additional context. It sounded utterly ridiculous at first. Like, of course they didn't find the Maelstrom in the German Sea.