Kraken: The Terror Of The Seas

Kraken was a creature from the deep sea that belonged to Scandinavian and Finnish mythology. The Vikings described with fear a marine creature that emerged from the depths sinking ships and devouring mariners. For the Vikings, Kraken was a monster with so enormous size that his head can be mistook with an island, and was so big that when he submerged, he produced whirlpools that may make ships sink. These sea legends remained alive during centuries. In 1752 a Danish bishop assured that he had seen a horrible creature, some kind of giant squid that spat ink and dragged the ships to the ocean depths. In Jules Verne's famous book "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", he describes the attack of a giant octopus. In 1804, scientist Pierre Denys of Montfort recognized two species of giant octopus that were very similar to the Kraken of the Norse mythology. He even stated that up to 10 British ships were considered victims of the giant octopus. The British government denied these facts and the career of Montfort reached an end, and died in complete misery in Paris. Nowadays there are strong proofs of the existence of giant squids that reach 15 or 20 meters long approximately. But these creatures were not proven to be as aggressive to the point of sinking ships and devouring mariners. But anyway, Kraken will still be in the legends of the sea for a long time. -Emma Alvarez- © 2008 by Emma Alvarez. Link to this post without copying the text. Some Related Posts: If you liked this post, subscribe to Emma Alvarez Site or give yourself a gift Stumble it! Add me to your del.icio.us network