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THE OCEAN.

The Ocean on Behaim's globe surrounds the continental mass of land, though covered around the North Pole with many large islands, so that in order to proceed from Iceland direct to the north coast of Asia it is necessary to pass through a narrow strait. The arctic ocean, called das gefrorê mer ßeptentrionel-the frozen sea of the North -is surrounded on all sides by land. It is the "Mare concretum" of Pierre d'Ailly's `Imago mundi,' and of the Ulm edition of Ptolemy printed in 1482.

The North Sea, the Oceanus Germanicus of Ptolemy, is described as das engelis mere (D 6O)-the "English Sea," for by that name it was known to the sailors of Scandinavia and of northern Germany. The Baltic, the Mare Germanicum of the learned, is called das mer von alemãgna (D 60), the "German Sea," which proves conclusively that Behaim in delineating that part of the world was guided by an Italian or Catalan Portolano chart.

The Southern Atlantic is called oceanus meridionalis (D 25 s). On the voyage thither, to the south of Cape Verde and the Cape Verde Islands, we meet with the following legend (C 4):

es ißt zu wißsen daz merr genant oceanus alhier zwißchen den jnßeln cabo verde und dießem landt faßt gerad vnder ßich gegen mittag ßchnelliglich widerlaufft als herculeßs mit ßeinem ßchiffen hieher gerunnen waßs and alhier den abfahl deßs möers ßah kert er wider und ßetzt die ßeul welche durch ßchrifft beweißt, daßs man merck daßs herculeßs nit ferrer ßey komen dann der dießes geßcriben hat wurt von konik von portogall ferner geßchikht, Anno, 1485.

Be it known that the sea called Ocean, between the Cape Verde Islands and the mainland, runs swiftly to the south; when Hercules had got here with his ships and saw the declivity (current) of the sea he turned back, and set up a column, the inscription upon which proves that Hercules got no further. Afterwards the writer of this was sent further by the king of Portugal, in the year 1485.

The Pillars of Hercules originally stood on the island of Gades (Cadiz), outside the Straits of Gibraltar, but in proportion as geographical knowledge extended so were these columns pushed ahead.

On a Catalan map of 1450, published by Kretschmer `Zeitsch. f. Erdk.' (1897), there are two small islands off Cape Verde described as "Illa de cades: asi posa ercules does colones" (Cades Island where Hercules set up two columns), and on Fra Mauro's famous map of 1459 a legend to the south of Cabo rosso tells us that he had heard from many that a column stood there with an inscription stating that it was impossible to navigate beyond.

Diogo Gomez, an old mariner, well known to Behaim, to whom he presented his account `De prima inventione Guineae,"(1) tells us that João de Castro, on his homeward voyage in 1415, had to struggle against the current which swept round Cabo de Non, upon which Hercules had set up a column with the well-known legend, "quis navigat ultra caput de Non revertetur aut non."

Gregory of Nyssa (died 395) already knew of the existence of this current, which he ascribed to the excessive evaporation caused by the great heat of the southern sun and the absence of evaporation in the cool north. Albertus Magnus (died 1280) (`Meteorologia,' II., tr.3, c.6) ascribed the current to the same cause, namely, a difference in the level of the ocean due to differences of evaporation, but believed the current thus produced to be steady and almost imperceptible. The actual velocity of the current to the south of Cape Non varies from ½ to 1¼ knots an hour.

Off the southern extremity of Africa, below a huge fish, is written "oceanus maris asperi meridionalis' (F 40 s), perhaps with reference to the experience of Bartholomeu Dias when within the influence of the "brave forties."

The Indian Ocean (Mare Jndicum, G 13, and oceanus Jndicus, H 5) of Ptolemy, is divided into a Western Indian Ocean, oceanus Jndicus occidentalis (H 20 s), an Ocean of Upper India: oceanus Jndie ßuperioris (K 17 s) off Mangi and an Eastern Indian Ocean, oceanus orientalis (M 25 s) and oceanus orientis Jndies, or orientalis Indiae (M 43), to the east of the meridian of Cipangu.

Behaim's Sinus arabicus (F 10) corresponds to our Gulf of Aden, and this gulf as well as the das rod mer - the Red Sea (F 20) - is coloured red.

Ptolemy's Sinus Persicus is called Daßz meer Perßia (F 27) and his Hyrcanum mare, das hyrkanißche mer (F45). Footnote

Footnotes

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Last modified: Fri Feb 6 00:07:08 CET 2004