Moskstraumen[edit] Main article: Moskstraumen Moskstraumen is an unusual system of whirlpools in the open seas in the Lofoten Islands off the Norwegian coast.[4] It is the second strongest whirlpool in the world with flow currents reaching speeds as high as 32 km/h (20 mph). It finds mention in several books and movies.[5] The Moskstraumen is formed by the combination of powerful semi-diurnal tides and the unusual shape of the seabed, with a shallow ridge between the Moskenesøya and Værøy islands which amplifies and whirls the tidal currents.[6] The fictional depictions of the Maelstrom by Edgar Allan Poe and Jules Verne describe it as a gigantic circular vortex that reaches the bottom of the ocean, when in fact it is a set of currents and crosscurrents with a rate of 18 km/h (11 mph).[7] Poe described this phenomenon in his short story A Descent into the Maelstrom, which in 1841 was the first to use the word "maelstrom" in the English language;[6] in this story related to the Lofoten Maelstrom, two fishermen are swallowed by the maelstrom while one survives miraculously.[8