Last updated on June 23rd, 2022
Transport Today
39. Today, a ship typically takes 6-8 days to complete a transatlantic journey. A sailboat takes 3-4 weeks.
40. Passenger jets, on the other hand, will cross ‘the pond’ in 7-8 hours. However, a supersonic turbo-powered passenger jet such as the famous Concorde is able to complete a New York-London flight in a little over 3 hours.
Others
41. Benoit Lecomte is credited to be the first person to swim across the Atlantic without a kickboard. It was a non-contiguous stage swim that Lecomte completed in 73 days back in 1998.
42. The attempt to lay telegraph cable under the ocean began right back in the 1850s and Cyrus West Field was the first ship to complete the task. Unfortunately though, the cables failed soon after. Then, in 1866, the task was successfully completed by the then world’s largest ship, the Great Eastern.
43. Today, 99 percent of all international data get transmitted by wires laid at the bottom of our oceans, including the Atlantic.
44. The infamous Bermuda Triangle on the Atlantic Ocean (with its apexes at San Juan, Puerto Rico, Miami, Florida, and Bermuda) has gained notoriety due to the disappearance of over 1,000 ships and airplanes, all of it taking place in or near the Triangle.
45. Yet, for all its apparent mysteries, turns out that the number of disappearances aren’t that high really. At least, according to insurance companies. Since they don’t charge higher rates to ships or planes slated to pass through the Triangle. In fact, the North Sea is considered to be the most dangerous area across all of the Atlantic Ocean.
46. Did you know that our oceans actually contain more historic artifacts than those found in all of the world’s museums combined? And a majority of these artifacts are actually found in the Atlantic as the ocean has over centuries contained some of the most essential trade and travel routes between the Western and Eastern hemispheres.
47. Off the Florida Keys alone, there are over 1,000 shipwrecks lying under water (some of then have found their way to the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary of late). Mention must also be made of the Christ of the Abyss, the famous submerged bronze statue of the Mediterranean.
48. The highest tides in the world are caused by the Atlantic Ocean, at the famous location of Bay of Fundy, Canada. At its extreme, the difference between high and low tide at certain times of the year is as much as 53.5 feet (16.3 meters).
49. The vast expanse of the South Atlantic between tips of South America and South Africa generates continuous strong winds and huge waves (known as the ‘Roaring Forties’) pretty much all round the year.
50. The Cancun Reef, the second largest barrier reef in the world (next only to the Great Barrier Reef, off the Australian coast) is located in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Mexico.