舌尖上的航海丨第13集 “魔鬼海”的“飞鱼宴”

“开饭喽！”

大厨喊破了嗓子，摇碎了就餐铃。上下跑了几趟；除了值班的都在船舱里呼呼大睡。

这个诡异的故事发生在号称“魔鬼海”的“百慕大三角”。一天“海王星”号来到这个神秘的海区。

终于，休班的人员都汇集到了餐厅。望着满桌由飞鱼烹饪的“鱼宴”，个个垂涎欲滴。

谁知，盘盘诱人的“鱼宴”有股难言的惺涩，看似鲜嫩的鱼肉却嚼不动！

眼前的情景，使船员们想起昨天船过“魔鬼海”惊心动魄匪夷所思的一幕。

“海王星”轮接到由波兰格但斯克驶往美国迈阿密的消息。全船沸腾了；船要航经“魔鬼大三角”海域，这是千载难逢的机会。但是也有人担心；根据航海史记载，十九世纪以来，在此海域失踪的船舶近百艘，死亡人数达数千人，还有众多架飞机神秘消失。

天刚亮，“海王星”号终于驶进了“魔鬼大三角”海域。此刻天空碧蓝，风平浪静。

沉寂的海面却使人感到莫名奇妙的恐惧；“难道这就是人们‘谈海色变’的魔鬼海吗？”

正当人们疑惑不解的时刻。

忽然间，船艏方向遮天盖日般涌来一大片飞鱼，伸展着长长的鱼翅，贴着水面流星般在船舷两侧穿梭、场面十分壮观奇妙。

紧接着奇迹发生了，成群低飞的飞鱼纷纷散落在甲板上翻腾跳跃。不一刻，飞鱼像中了邪，张着大嘴瞪着突眼，直愣愣地躺在甲板上。条条飞鱼腹胀如鼓硬邦邦，宛如雪片铺满甲板。

人们望着眼前的景象痴迷发呆。突听一声惊雷，天空顿时乌云密布狂风大作。霎时，海面掀起滔天大浪。船左右摇晃20多度。船体不断发出阵阵“格格”的怪叫声。

船员紧张地登上驾驶台。

为减少船体摇摆，船改航向航行。就在这一霎那，前方传来一阵阵断断续续的闷雷声。接着，铅色的天幕下，一个硕大的银灰色水柱腾空而起。

“龙卷风！”水柱急剧旋转升腾；上端是团蘑菇状浓云，下面连着海面，与海石形成70多度夹角，从船首呼啸而过。然后缓缓向远方移去。

这时，驾驶台值班舵工发现；船向偏离船首30多度，船上的导航和通讯也中断了…...。

谢天谢地。傍晚，一场惊心动魄的海上奇观终于过去了。海面恢复了平静，。

余悸未消的大厨望着满甲板的飞鱼突发奇想：搞个“飞鱼宴”犒劳船员兄弟。

谁知，弄巧成拙，不仅没有鲜美的鱼味，连肉都嚼不动！

“海王星”船长阿纳森不仅是位经验丰富的航海家，还是位航海科普爱好者。事后，阿纳森请教了有关海洋专家。

专家说，“魔鬼大三角”海域出现的神秘性灾难是由多种因素造成的。

有人认为；这个海域由于墨西哥湾暖流引起复杂气象而产生的不测风云造成的。也有人认为这个海区海底火山周期性爆发，是地壳下沉产生飙风和磁暴形成“船吸”现象形成的。当代更多科学家则认为“魔鬼大三角”海域有股从海面到海底间下的奇特海流构成“涡旋”运动…...。

关于飞鱼变味变硬的原因；专家指出，“魔鬼大三角”海域风暴来临前后，会出现次声波。次声波不仅加大了风浪的震幅，还改变了海面的气压，促使大量飞鱼跃上水面呼吸。跃上船甲板的飞鱼受到次声波的刺激，不仅鱼的鲜味发生了改变，体内细胞亦发生异化，变得“坚硬”起来。

大厨精心准备的“飞鱼宴”虽然没达到预期的效果，却使人们得到一次意外的知识收获。

“Lunchtime!”

The head chef yelled at the top of his lungs, ringing the dinner bell. He ran up and down

the cabins of the steamship SS Neptune, and found that aside from the few crew members

who were on shift, everyone else was fast asleep.

This unusual incident occurred in the Bermuda Triangle, which is sometimes known as

the “Devil’s Triangle”. The steamship Neptune’s rare encounter in this region left its entire

crew exhausted and reluctant to get out of bed even for lunch.

As the sailors slowly gathered in the cafeteria, they gazed at the feast of flying fish on

the table that immediately opened their appetites. But to their bewilderment, as they sat down

and sunk their teeth into the fish, they found that it was almost impossible to chew.

Disappointed, the crew sat in front of their meal and stared blankly, recalling the

thrilling experience they had just a day ago in the Devil’s Triangle.

The SS Neptune received a last minute order to sail from Gdansk, Poland to Miami,

USA. When they found out the routes they were assigned, the entire crew was buzzing with

anticipation. They had the opportunity to sail through the Bermuda Triangle, which was rare

for seafarers that frequented their divisions of the sea. Regardless, some of the crew were also

a little concerned. According to maritime history, the Bermuda Triangle was home to vicious

storms and unexplained phenomena, causing nearly a hundred ships to vanish in the region in

the 19th century alone, bringing upon the deaths of over a thousand sailors, and the

disappearance of planes that flew above the triangle, too.

They navigated into the Triangle first thing in the morning. The ocean air during

daybreak was exceptionally brisk, the sky was a serene shade of light blue, and the winds and

waters were abnormally still.

The tranquil scenery made some of the sailors uneasy. “Could this really be the “Devil’s Triangle” that we’ve been warned about?” They wondered.

Just as they began to argue, suddenly, a large wave of flying fish came surging towards

the bow of the ship, their long fins stretching out like parachutes. They glided above the

surface of the water like shooting stars, offering a spectacular scene worthy of the Devil’s Triangle.

Then, something that was even more shocking happened. Schools of the flying fish

came plummeting down on the ship’s lower deck and bounced on the wooden planks,

splashing water onto the faces of the crew. A few of the more courageous sailors inched

closer to the flying fish, and saw that they were glaring directly at the crew with their mouths

gaped open, as if they had a wicked expression on their faces. The fish laid out on the deck

like a pale, ash-white sheet of snow, unmoving and solid like they were frozen in time.

The crew members stared at the scene in front of them, completely dumbfounded. In an

abrupt moment, they were taken out of their daze by a startling rumble of thunder. The sky

turned grey and strikes of blinding lightning zapped down from the sky. Gushes of

overwhelming winds blew towards the deck as the ship’s sails quivered in pain. Gigantic

waves thrashed upon the vessel, and the old craft shrieked in resistance with a piercing groan.

Sailors screamed for one another to get atop the bridge and to change the course of their

journey. In order to reduce the overpowering swings of the ship, the crewmen mustered all

their strength to change the direction of the sails to hold back the wind.

Despite their best efforts, the ocean decided to throw another ruthless challenge towards

the men. Roars of thunder bellowed from the bleak mist above, and the sailors watched in

horror as a monstrous spiral of water thrusted from the ocean, creeping towards the ship.

“Hurricane!”

The massive cyclone spun and swelled, with storm clouds shaped like poisonous

mushrooms at its apex and winds and water beneath it that reached into the ocean. It slanted

to an angle with the sea rocks nearby, scraping the bow of SS Neptune, and ominously

dragged into the distance.

The helmsman standing on the bridge realized that the bow was tilted about 30 degrees

away from the ship’s stem, and all navigation guidance and communication systems were

severed.

At dusk, the hurricane strayed out of sight from SS Neptune, and the frightening tempest

had finally passed. Calmness returned to the sea as if the storm had never scratched its

surface.

Nevertheless, many crew members were petrified by the ordeal, and a lingering sense of

agitation remained in the hearts of even the bravest crewmen. Wondering how to console his

sailors, the head chef of SS Neptune walked past the deck and examined the desolate flying

fish left on the ship. He wondered if making a feast out of them would help his crew regain

some energy. To his despair, not only did the flying fish lack in flavor, they were almost impossible to

eat!

The captain of SS Neptune, Captain Arnason, was both an experienced navigator and an

aspiring nautical scientist. He knew that he needed to search for a logical explanation for the

disturbance his crew witnessed on that day.

The experts he sought after claimed that this puzzling disaster in the Devil’s Triangle

could be caused by a number of factors. Some believed that the unpredictable storm clouds

were brought about by the warm currents off the Gulf of Mexico, thus creating complex,

unforeseeable weather changes. Others told Arnason that a volcano may have erupted

underwater due to magnetic shifts in the ocean’s crust, producing ferocious cyclones that can

engulf entire ships. Contemporary science specialists theorized that unusual currents flowed

beneath the surface in the Bermuda Triangle, which manifested as a whirlpool in front of the

SS Neptune…

And about the flying fish, the experts explained that the ocean generated infrasound

waves right before the oncoming of the storm. These waves increased the multitude of the

wind and water and shifted the pressure under the sea, forcing the flying fish to leap above

the surface to breathe. Because of the pressure, the cells of the fish compressed and

transformed, which altered their flavor and the elasticity of their skin. There was no way that

any of those flying fish could taste like an ordinary seafood meal.

The Captain shared his findings with the entire crew, who became more at ease after

learning the scientific explanations behind their spine chilling experience. Even though the

head chef’s plan of lifting the spirits of his crew seemed to have failed, he was satisfied

knowing that it prompted an inquiry into a baffling nautical encounter that ultimately allowed

his crew to gain new insights.