horse latitudes

In the times of the tall ships, sailors who unfortunately found themselves in this predicament where said to have thrown the horses they carried as cargo into the ocean to drown. This cruel act would save the precious fresh water supplies for the ship's crew. This windless region of ocean became know as the "Horse Latitudes".

In his poem, Horse Latitudes , Jim Morrison also laments the veracity of this nightmarish place.

(in Lizard King Arts)

Horse Latitudes

When the still sea conspires an armor
And her sullen and aborted
Currents breed tiny monsters
True sailing is dead
Awkward instant
And the first animal is jettisoned
Legs furiously pumping
Their stiff green gallop
And heads bob up
Poise
Delicate
Pause
Consent
In mute nostril agony
Carefully refined
And sealed over

Jim Morrison