Sargasso Sea is Atlantic Ocean trash heap

A floating island of plastic-laden trash has been detected off the coast of North Carolina in the Sargasso Sea region in the Northern Atlantic Ocean.

Named the “Atlantic Ocean Garbage Patch,” it poses health risks to animals, birds, other marine mammals and humans.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tells us that the Sargasso Sea is the only sea without a land boundary.

Interestingly, the Sargasso Sea is defined by ocean currents. The Gulf Stream establishes the Sargasso Sea’s western boundary, the North Atlantic Current is the northern boundary, the Canary Current lies to the east, and the southern boundary is the North Atlantic Equatorial Current. Hence, the Sargasso Sea’s borders are dynamic and reflect seasonal variations, NOAA reports.

Bermuda is the most identifiable prominent land mass within the Sargasso Sea region. About 61,000 people live on the island.

NOAA said: “The Sargasso Sea is named for a genus of seaweed called sargassum, which floats freely and reproduces by vegetative fragmentation on the high seas. Other seaweeds reproduce and begin life on the floor of the ocean.”

“Sargassum provides a home to an amazing variety of marine species. Turtles use sargassum mats as nurseries where hatchlings have food and shelter,” NOAA noted.

NOAA added: “The Sargasso Sea is a spawning site for threatened and endangered eels as well as white marlin, shark and dolphinfish. Humpback whales annually migrate through the Sargasso Sea. Commercial fish, such as tuna, and birds also migrate through the Sargasso Sea and depend on it for food.”

Unfortunately, the Sargasso Sea is one of the five garbage patches found around the world.

Scientifically, these areas are known as ocean gyres. A gyre is a large system of circular ocean currents formed by global wind patterns and forces created by Earth’s rotation.

The water circulates in a slow spiral. Winds are light and the currents tend to push any floating material into the low-energy center of the gyre. The sea garbage is in a state of never-ending rotation.

NOAA scientists refer to the gyre contents as “trash soup, a collection of pelagic plastic particles, consumer products and sludge. The plastic particles seen of the surface of the water form just a portion of what’s there, since plastic also gets pushed down below the surface.

“Since plastic doesn’t biodegrade, what is thrown into the ocean will always be there. Trillions of these plastics get trapped in the floating trash pile,” NOAA contends.

Toxic chemicals that do not dissolve in water are there, too, “absorbed by plastic just like a sponge.”

The Sargasso Sea is one of the areas that should be protected as an Ocean Sanctuary, according to Greenpeace, the international environmental organization, which is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Additionally, the issue of ocean-dwelling plastics has caught the attention of The World Counts, a web-based project that originated in Copenhagen, Denmark. It seeks to “raise awareness of important global challenges and inspire consumer-driven action to reverse negative trends.”

The World Counts counters have identified the plastic garbage patches as negative trends, with far-reaching implications to the environment and to health.

The principals of World Counts – Esben Larsen, Karsten Bjerring Olsen and Victor Emanouilov – say: “Our current consumer society is not sustainable. Basically, products are made from natural resources and eventually turned into waste. With a limited amount of natural resources, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that we can’t run such a system forever.”

“We, as consumers, can make a positive difference by paying more attention to the things we buy,” they advise.

There’s a Southern protocol for aging and death

Have you noticed that Southerners seem to handle aging and death with a healthy blend of reverence and irreverence?

The “Golden Years” has given author and folklorist Roger Welsch, now 81, a platform to transition from storyteller to geezer-at-large.

(Welsch was discovered by Charles Kuralt, who brought him on his “On the Road” television series for the CBS Evening News. They worked together for many years.)

Roger Welsch’s father, Chris Welsch, was struck by lightning at age 14 and was in a coma for almost a week. The boy survived but was deaf for the rest of his life.

“At 65, I began to go deaf, the result not of lightning but of a lifetime a rock and roll music and unmufflered tractor engines,” Roger Welsch wrote. “I grew to understand how Dad dealt with his physical problems; he laughed at them.”

“From his tiniest problems to his biggest, he laughed. Never with irony or cruelty, and almost always at himself.”

No question, laughter is the best medicine for recovery from illness and disease as well as an antidote for the miseries associated with growing old.

Hearing aids jokes became a Chris Welsch specialty. The doctor looked into his patient’s ear and sputtered, “There’s a suppository in here.”

The unflustered patient replied: “So, that’s where my hearing aid went.”

When one’s memory begins to fail…and one’s “forgetery” seems to take control, Roger Welsch recommends making a to-do list. He said: “Each morning, I make a list of what I have to do that day, and then I know I am done when I lose the list.”

Welsch said he believes the ideal retirement party is a private affair with no fanfare, “so people don’t drop by your place and bother you” afterward…because they think you need company…and drone and drool on with idle, rocking-chair chit-chat.

He said: “A couple of weeks ago I was jarred into a cruel reality when I got a letter from a friend notifying me that I was going to be his ‘vacation destination’ for the summer, and he’d be dropping by to spend a few days just sitting on my back porch with me to help me pass the time.”

“I marked ‘Deceased’ on the envelope and sent it back by express mail in hopes of heading him off before he loaded up the RV and headed my way. The Golden Years are bad enough without becoming a ‘vacation destination.’”

There is a softer side to Roger Welsch. He concludes: “Now, after all that whining and bellyaching (about the perils of growing old), here’s the bottom line: The Golden Years actually aren’t all that bad. In fact, I’m having a pretty good time of it despite the occasional glitch in the hitch.”

He said: “Every new problem that comes along has the advantage of reminding me that things could be worse, and there’s considerable hope that they will be better. Besides, what’s the alternative?”

Welsch transfers the baton to Southern writers Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays. They are co-authors of the book Being Dead Is No Excuse: The Official Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral.

The co-authors are about as Southern as you can get. Home is Greenville, Miss., in the heart of the Mississippi Delta.

They report that Southern funerals are akin to church socials, and “you can always tell when a Methodist dies, because there are lots of casseroles.”

Southern funerals are all about food and drink, fellowship and music. For the reception following the funeral and burial, Metcalfe and Hays say: “Poulet John Wesley (fried chicken) is the ecumenical dish…it can sit on the sideboard for hours and still be delicious.”

As a side dish, serve up some Methodist Party Potatoes. The recipe is in the book, but it starts with frozen hash brown potatoes. Other ingredients are sharp cheddar cheese, onions, sour cream, cheddar cheese soup in a can, butter and corn flakes. (The Episcopalians serve up a dish that’s nearly identical but call it Liketa Died Potatoes.)

The funereal chilled dish of choice is Bing Cherry Salad with Coca-Cola. You will need cherry Jell-O, canned crushed pineapple, canned black cherries (and the juice from both), a 16-ounce bottle of Coke (not in a can) and pecans.

The authors conclude that a Greenville, Miss., “funeral is always a time of stress, and everybody realizes immediately afterward, you need two things: friends and alcohol.” Metcalfe and Hays call the latter a “restorative cocktail.”

Today, Sept. 9, 2018, was my opportunity to cross the bridge to become age 70. I did so with a smile on my face and spring in my step…and a renewed faith in the Word.

A double rainbow was visible in the western sky to illuminate the way. It’s Sunday. Hurricane Florence is headed this way. Is this handwriting in the sky from those who now reside above?

Last surviving WW II U-boat captain laid to rest

A key figure from World War II – Capt. Reinhard Hardegen, commander of the German submarine known as the U-123 – died June 9, 2018, at age 105.

His passing closes yet another chapter in global military history.

Hardegen was the last of Germany’s U-boat captains, one of that nation’s most decorated “aces of the deep.”

His official World War II record as U-123 commander includes at least 17 ships sunk and four damaged.

The U-123 was one of the first U-boats deployed to patrol the waters off the eastern coast of North America as part of Germany’s Operation Drumbeat in December 1941.

Hardegen is credited with the first casualty of Operation Drumbeat, the sinking of the Cyclops. The New England Historical Society (NEHS) tells the story:

“On the evening of Jan. 11, 1942, Reinhard Hardegen, the audacious captain of U-123…spotted the big British freighter Cyclops, carrying Chinese sailors and cargo to the British Isles, 300 miles east of Cape Cod (Mass.) in Canadian waters near Nova Scotia. The U-123 sent a torpedo into the Cyclops that cut her in two.”

From there, Hardegen headed south toward the United States, and the NEHS report continues: “He didn’t have good charts, but that didn’t matter. The Montauk Point (N.Y.) Lighthouse beamed a helpful navigational aid.”

On Jan. 14, 1942, the U-123 spotted the Norness silhouetted against the brightly lit coast (of the New York City metropolitan area). The huge Panamanian tanker was carrying 12,200 tons of crude. The U-123 sunk the Norness with three torpedoes.

On Jan. 15, 1942, Hardegen struck again. The Coimbra, a British tanker full of oil, was torpedoed off New York’s Long Island coast, and “within minutes the explosion sent a fireball 650 feet into the sky,” NEHS reported.

The death toll from these three swift attacks by the U-123 was 126, while 142 people were rescued and survived.

In compiling Hardegen’s obituary, Joe Daraskevich of The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, Fla., wrote that the decorated German submariner was “best known for an attack that took place just off the coast of Jacksonville Beach on April 10, 1942.”

At 10:20 p.m., the U-123 torpedoed the Gulfamerica about four miles offshore. The tanker was on its maiden voyage, having left Port Arthur, Texas, laden with 101,500 barrels of furnace oil, destined for New York City.

“There were guys who sank more ships, but nobody did it with an audience like Hardegen did,” said Scott Grant, a Jacksonville historian.

The Beaches Museum & History Park in Jacksonville Beach recalled: “Hearing the explosions out at sea, people all along the beach rushed outside to watch in shock and horror as the U-boat continued its assault on the ship.” Several thousand people reportedly stood in awe along the shoreline.

Of the 48 men on the Gulfamerica, 29 survived the attack and 19 perished.

The museum scribe wrote: “While the attack was swift, the tanker took several days to sink completely, and the effect of the attack was lasting. A ban on nighttime lighting at the beach was issued following the event to avoid illuminating other American ships for the enemy. The war had reached the shores of northeast Florida.”

After the war, Hardegen returned to his hometown of Bremen, Germany, located in the northwestern section of the country on the River Wesser near the North Sea. He served for two decades in the Bremen State Parliament.

He made a well-publicized return to the United States after the 1990 publication of Michael Gannon’s book, “Operation Drumbeat.” Hardegen said at the time that he wanted to “show Americans that the enemies of yesterday are friends of today. Now, I sink putts, not ships.”

“I was a German submarine commander, not a Nazi commander,” Hardegen said in a 1990 article in The Florida Times-Union. “I did my duty for my country, not for (Adolf) Hitler.”