82 Deep Blue Discovering the Sea

CHAPTER 1 Humans and the Sea KAIKEA LOOKED UP AT THE STARS, FOLLOWING THE PATH THAT HE KNEW WOULD KEEP THE CANOE ON COURSE... He was still only a young boy, but he knew all the traveling songs and stories. His father had sung them to him since before he could remember. He looked down at his father who was finally resting. How tired he must be! The big storm had thrown the boats in so many directions, and his father had spent three days without sleep before finding the other families. He was a great sailor. They had little food or water left, but they had seen birds, so land must be near. They would be safe now, as long as the weather stayed calm. Kaikea sang his own name quietly to himself as he watched the stars. It made him feel safer. "Kaikea... Clear sea, clear sea..."

Scientists believe that people first started leaving Africa about 100,000 years ago, moving into parts of Europe and Asia, Australia, and the Americas. To do this, they made boats strong enough to cross rivers, lakes, and seas. Australian Aborigines crossed the sea from Asia as early as 50,000 years ago. They probably used simple rafts made from whole trees tied together. It seems that a lot of early exploration was done by small family groups who navigated their rafts slowly along the coasts of Europe and Asia. This was for a very simple reason; it was very difficult and dangerous for these early travelers to move through the thick forests that covered most of the land. Most people lived and worked along the rivers and coasts, which allowed them to eat, drink, and travel more easily.

Many cultures have such a close relationship with the sea that it becomes part of their social identity. Often, these are island communities that depend on boats to travel and catch food. Pacific South Sea island cultures, such as the Polynesians and the New Zealand Maoris, are famous for being able to navigate thousands of kilometers in their traditional canoes without maps. Between about 3000 and 1000 BCE, these people emigrated from southeast Asia across the Pacific Ocean, arriving in New Zealand, Samoa, and as far away as Hawaii. Their knowledge of the islands, seas, winds, and stars were passed down in songs that allowed them to remember even the smallest details.

For thousands of years, people have used the sea for trade. The earliest picture of a boat with a sail was painted on an Egyptian vase about 5000 BCE. By the 1st century CE, Roman and Greek sailors were traveling across the Mediterranean Sea, through the Arabian Gulf, and across to India. Gold Roman coins have been found in Southern India. Some Roman writers even complained about how much Roman gold was being spent on Indian silk and spices! And yet, the sea has always been something to fear. Its power and size has led to many stories about huge creatures called sea monsters. Even today, many people continue to search for signs of sea monsters, such as Scotland's famous Loch Ness Monster! But this fascination with monsters might not be as crazy as it seems. As we are going to see, the world's seas hold many strange and terrifying creatures!

CHAPTER 2 At the Bottom of the Sea SOMETIMES TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION. In 2007, fishermen from New Zealand made a strange and frightening catch off the coast of Antarctica. Instead of the fish they were hoping for, they caught a 13-meter-long squid, the biggest ever found! It weighed 495 kilograms and its eyes were 15 centimeters across! Its mouth, however, was a lot smaller than those of other squids that have been found. So, although it is the biggest squid ever caught, this squid could probably have grown even bigger! Sailors used to tell stories of a monster as big as a small island that came from under the sea and swallowed even the biggest ships whole. This monster of legends, known as the Kraken, may have been based upon sailor's experiences with giant squid like the one found by the fishermen from New Zealand.

The Kraken is not the only horrible creature that sailors used to create stories about. In many cultures around the world there are all sorts of stories about strange sea monsters. The Ancient Greeks told stories about a terrible monster called Scylla. Once a beautiful young girl, a jealous witch turned her into an enormous six-headed sea snake. Scylla waited for passing ships and jumped out from her cave, eating six men at a time with her monstrous mouths. It is easy to understand why sailors created stories of incredible monsters lying in the depths of the sea. Animals that now seem normal to us seemed incredibly scary to people navigating the seas in small, easily wrecked, wooden boats.