I asked him to recount his grandfather's story the best be could and here, below, are Ben's own words:

"Regarding my grandfather.  He was 18 and signed on this, he
said 4 mast sail ship with jibs in the bow and stern, as a CABIN BOY,
one way-- as he was earning his passage to New Orleans.  He had been
told that farm land was available near the Mississippi river.  He really
had NO MONEY and lived on his minor wages and tips.  He knew the name of
the ship but I  forgot that years ago.  They were sailing a southern
route to end up in New Orleans and they accidentally sailed into the
side of this massive whirlpool somewhere "FAR OUT IN THE OCEAN"
(QUOTE).  The ocean took control of the ship and  turned it into the
outer edge of the whirlpool,  going counter clockwise.   He used the
term to describe the size of the whirlpool as "MILES ACROSS."  The crew
and passengers were in panic and strongly felt they just BARELY MISSED a
sinking and untimely death.  Setting all the sails correctly and with
full rudder the captain was able to overcome the flow of water and get
back on a westerly sail.  All this happened well over 100 years ago so
you can understand why I never REALLY gave it much credit."

"We had overnight guest from Grass Valley, Calif. who were on their way
home after a winter at southern Baja.  They go every winter  for 3
months there and in the course of the evening I showed him all the
printed down load from your whirlpool stories on the internet and then
he had to tell me one.

They were in Canada driving and camping from Victoria all along the
Straits of Georgia and about a 100 miles north of the town of Courtenay
staying at BIG BAY SPORTS LODGE on Stuart Island they were warned of
dangerous whirlpools in the currents in that area.  They did not see it
but were told of a sizable boat that got tangled in a whirlpool there
and they sent a small 22 foot open boat into the swirl to rescue the
people on the larger boat.  They got all the people off and safe.
Shortly after the larger  boat disappeared down the throat of the pool!
They said they were told the smaller boat did not draw as much water
and was able to go over the swirling water.  He said the story was told
to them as factual."

I then asked Ben if this whirlpool was on or near a big river because my next door neighbor had told me about going on a guided fishing trip on a very large river in eastern Canada in the 1960's.  Their guide steered the boat around quite a few fairly large whirlpools and told them of some other whirlpools in other parts of the river that were capable of sinking their boat.  This was Ben's reply:

"To answer your question about the location in Canada BEING ON A RIVER.
I am not sure  but from my map it looks like it may have something to do
with tides.   The Queen Charlotte Straits has a whole slew of what they
call "INLETS" and I think all of those INLETS are affected very severely
by tides and consequently could be great areas for  whirlpools around or
near Stuart Island.

Below Niagara Falls, in the Niagara River, there are hundreds of
whirlpools that form in the vicious waters and  are clearly visible from
the viewing areas on the cliffs above.  The thing about them is that
they visibly move DOWN STREAM  and then dissipate or just breakup
several hundred feet down stream and then new ones may develop.    In
the Bay of Fundy, around Nova Scotia, the ocean tides are squeezed into
tighter and smaller areas and rise and fall  so drastically that in one
place they have a  power plant that runs its generators in one
direction.  Closes down for about 30 minutes when the tide gets all the
way in or out and then reverses the process as the tide reverses.
Almost all the time whirl pools of 10 to 20 feet width are down stream
from   the plant depending on the direction of flow.  At St. John's in
New Brunswick they have a beautiful water falls going under a pretty
highway bridge over Grand Bay at LOW TIDE.   During that period many
sizable cargo vessels congregate below and  above the falls and wait.
When the tide comes in the falls disappears, the water gets deep enough
for all the boats to go over the falls.   Incoming boats  are then
required to stay above the falls until the next high tide.  We ate at a
restaurant that overlooked the whole thing and were astounded at the
jockeying for space as the waiting boats, both  above and below the falls,
had so few minutes when the water was deep enough that their  boats
could get over the top of the falls.  In the area BELOW the falls there
were constantly large areas in whirlpool status.  I would hate to be
caught in one of those while   I was swimming but  they seem to offer no
menace to boat traffic.  They too moved slowly down stream and out to
sea with the tide."
 

John McMahon, webmaster@thestrangedotcom.com