Notable Whirlpools
The five strongest whirlpools in the world are the Saltstraumen outside Bodø in Norway, which reaches speeds of 37 km/h (23 mph); the Moskstraumen off the Lofoten islands in Norway (the original maelstrom), which reaches speeds of 27.8 km/h (17.3 mph); the Old Sow in Eastport, Maine, United States, which has been measured with a speed of up to 27.6 km/h (17.1 mph); the Naruto whirlpools in Japan, which have a speed of 20 km/h (12 mph); and the Corryvreckan in Scotland, which reaches speeds of 18 km/h (11 mph).
Powerful whirlpools have killed unlucky seafarers, but their power tends to be exaggerated by laymen. There are virtually no stories of large ships ever being sucked into a whirlpool. Tales like those by Paul the Deacon, Jules Verne and Edgar Allan Poe are entirely fictional. The closest equivalent might have been the short-lived whirlpool that sucked in a portion of Lake Peigneur in New Iberia, Louisiana, United States after a drilling mishap in 1980. This was not a naturally-occurring whirlpool, but a man-made disaster caused by breaking through the roof of a salt mine. The lake then behaved like a gigantic bathtub being drained, until the mine filled and the water levels equalized.
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