[cripplecreek]

I saw Old Sow on the history channel the other day.

[DB]

In larger area pictures there’s a breakwater on one side so when the water went rushing by it caused the water to swirl behind the breakwater and where it was open to the sea.

[ladyvet]

Anybody know what ever happened to that boat?

[dr_lew]

As seen in this widely distributed photo, the whirlpool was inside a harbor. There is a seawall just out of the picture to the right and you can see it in this Google Maps view. Note that the trapezoidal shaped pier is submerged.

[cripplecreek]

Old Sow off Deer Island New Brunswick occurs with some regularity. Sometimes its many smaller ones the locals call piglets.

[DejaJude]

Looks like a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean. Very scary.

[jwparkerjr]

re: “Whirlpools have a big impact on the human imagination,” Ludwin said. “They're very notable and very frightening.”

I can vouch for the truth of that statement! Thirty plus years ago I was on a canoe trip down the Wacissa River near Tallahassee, FL. We were not familiar with the river and took a wrong turn that led us off along a tributary of some sort. Everything looked fine to us until we rounded a little curve and realized it looked like the waterway ended just ahead. Hmmmm . . . There was all sorts of trash and debris floating on the surface and as you got closer you realized it was moving. Around. In ever tighter circles! Wow, talk about pucker factor! We realized we were looking at a huge whirlpool in the river!

Turns out the tributary we had wandered onto went underground there to a cave and the water going in ends up in the Gulf of Mexico some miles west of there.

That was scary.

[NonValueAdded]

God pulled the plug.

[yup2394871293]

It was Godzilla swimming in circles.

[runninglips]

Based on eye-witness accounts and video in recent years, whirlpools probably occur with some regularity after large tsunamis, said Ruth Ludwin, a retired seismologist at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Globull warmers woder why we lose faith in the science of today. I wonder if that opinion is peer reviewed.

[mmercier]

There is a harbor in Maine where this phenomenon regularly occurs. They are rather large, and can drag down good size lobster boats in seconds. The name of the harbor escapes me at this moment.

[dr_lew]

Here's the BBC version of the video that I've already cited. At 0:32 you get the same view of the western sea wall, and I think the whirlpool was formed in the center of the harbor by a strong ebb current running along this wall. The eastern sea wall closes with the western to form the harbor entrance, leaving the center of the harbor enclosed.

The commentary is absolutely inane. Note that he works global warming into it.