WHIRLPOOL, a place in a river, or in the sea, where in con sequence of obstructions from banks, rocks, or islands, or the oppo sition of winds and currents, the waters acquire a revolving motion.
The agitation of the waters which is constantly observed near Messina, and which is usually designated the whirlpool of Charybdis, is now well known to be unaccompanied by any vertiginous motion by which vessels might be absorbed, and is, rather, an incessant undula tion of the water. The agitation is said to exist in several different places at the same time, within the circumferences of circles whose diameters, when the wind is moderate, do not exceed 100 feet, and is caused by the wind acting obliquely on the rapid current which sets towards the faro, or lighthouse, from the north during six hours, and from the south during the next six hours, and so on alternately ; the changes taking place respectively with the rising and setting of the MOOD. Spallanzani, who was rowed over the spot when the wind was light, experienced no danger, though the boat was much tossed by the waves : he was informed however that when the wind is high, the swelling of the waves is more violent and extensive, so that small vessels which are driven within the limits of the agitation may be sunk by the waves breaking over them, and large ones may be driven on the Italian shore, where they are sometimes wrecked on the rock of Scylla. The dashing of the waves on the hollow rocks about Cape Peloru produces a noise which is said to resemble the barking of dogs; and it is probable that these sounds gave rise to the fable that a female monster surrounded by ferocious dogs and wolves lay there in wait to devour the mariners who might be wrecked on the coast.
Some of the descriptive particulars of the Galofaro, the supposed Charybdis [Caututtia, col. 236, in GE0G. Div.], just given, are derived from Captain (now Admiral) W. H. Smyth's account of Sicily and its islands. We now add the following, as given, from that work, in the author's subsequent memoir on the Mediterranean, pp. 181, 182 : " Tu the undecked boats of the Ithegians, Loerians, Zanoleans, and Greeks it must have been formidable; for even in the present day small craft are sometimes endangered by it, and I have seen several men-of-war, and even a 74-gun ship (the Queen, bearing the fray of Rear Admiral Sir Charles Penrose), whirled round on its surface; but by using due caution there is generally very little danger or inconvenience to be apprehended. The Galofaro appears to be an agitated water, of
from 70 to 90 fathoms in depth It is owing probably to the meeting of the harbour and lateral currents with the main one, the latter being forced over in this direction by the opposite point of Pezzo. This agrees in some measure with the relation of Thucydides,who calls it a violent reciprocation of the Tyrrhene and Sicilian seas; and he is the only writer of remote antiquity I remember to have read who has assigned this danger its true situation and not exaggerated its effects. Many wonderful stories are told respecting this vortex, particularly some said to have been related by the celebrated diver, Colas, who at last lost his life here. I have never found reason, however, during my examination of this spot, to believe one of them. The formation of the Tangdora shoals, stretching out on each aide of the little kind of bay off which the Galofaro is situated, is probably owing to the eddies of Charybdis." The Maelstrom, between the islands of Mosker and Warae on the coast of Norway, appears to be of a similar mann' : the tide there forms a current which runs with violence alternately from north to south, and in a contrary direction; and when this is opposed by the winds, there is created an agitation of the water, the sound of which is heard at sea to the distance of many leagues. At high and at low water, in moderate weather, ships paw through the strait without danger ; but during strong gales they keep at a considerable distance in order to avoid being drawn into the current, in consequence of which they might founder among the waves, or be otherwise destroyed. Whales and fish, it is said, are often found dead on the shores, against which they have been dashed by the violence with which the waters rush through the channel.