The idea of whirling funnels of sea water sucking ships down into the sea is a fiction invented by Victorian authors Jules Verne, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville and others. It is believed by some to be based upon the turbulent area of sea situated of Norway between the Ferroe and Loffoden islands, called the maelstrom (Moskstraumen in Norwegian). The treacherous currents there are caused by relatively huge tidal differences in the level of sea west of the Lofoten Island chain and the sheltered waters between the islands and the mainland. Northward ocean currents created by tides force water into the Vestjorden between the mainland and the island chain, raising the sea level in the Vestjorden.
While the maelstrom has never produced a whirlpool, it has claimed countless lives among mariners who have ventured into the area at dangerous times in the tidal cycle. Norwegian scientists studying the maelstrom have reported exceptional current-wave interaction in the area, with current speeds up to 12 knots (14 statute miles an hour). When the waves kicked up by the wind are opposite to the direction of the current, very steep and choppy waves, and breaking waves, are created.