
Pelagic Thoroughbreds - quickfox
https://www.newcriterion.com/issues/2019/2/pelagic-thoroughbreds
======
hprotagonist
“pelagic”, for those wondering, means “relating to the open seas”.

i’m mostly familiar with the term from “pelagic zone”, which is the upper
stratum of the water column where most fish live.

------
CoryOndrejka
Flying Cloud is a wonderful innovation story that connects to the larger story
of Matthew Maury, who used US Navy datasets to transform how ships navigated.
Gave a talk about this at the US Naval Academy a few years ago, build a bunch
of visualizations since NOAA still hosts the data sets
[http://ondrejka.net/history/2014/02/28/maury.html](http://ondrejka.net/history/2014/02/28/maury.html)

------
twic
> Trade with China is as old as the republic itself, blossoming initially out
> of Salem, Massachusetts, and then later usurped by New York–based merchants.

No Transcontinental Railroad, no West Coast ports, no Panama Canal - so did
they sail from Boston or New York, along the length of the Americas, through
the Strait of Magellan, and then the long way across the Pacific to China?
That's quite a trip. Or was there a portage in Central America somewhere?

The wikipedia article on US - China trade in the era prior to that of the
clippers is rather interesting:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_China_Trade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_China_Trade)

I had no idea that America bought opium from Turkey, or that ginseng was grown
in Appalachia for export to China in the early 19th century!

~~~
madhadron
Not through the straits. Around Cape Horn! An old British admiral started his
career as a seaman on one of the last of the big square riggers that made that
voyage in the 1920's, and brought along one of the earliest handheld video
cameras. It's amazing photage ([https://www.amazon.com/Around-Cape-Horn-
Johnson-Sailing/dp/B...](https://www.amazon.com/Around-Cape-Horn-Johnson-
Sailing/dp/B000W8MMO2)). It gives an amazing view of just how huge the waves
are sailing there.

That was the China trade, though. That was bringing bat guano from Chile as
fertilizer.

~~~
twic
Online - i am definitely not keen to do this trip:

[https://archive.org/details/IrvingMcClureJohnsonAroundCapeHo...](https://archive.org/details/IrvingMcClureJohnsonAroundCapeHornOriginalFootageFromOnboardThePekingFilmedIn1929)

~~~
davidp
Superb video, and in the public domain. Thanks so much for the link!

------
Qwertystop
Title left me thinking of horse-breeding (on boats) in international waters,
presumably for legal or tax reasons.

