The Black Sea and its Coasts
Altho for many centuries separated from the Pontus by the nomad-haunted steppe-border, the Ukrainian [[16]]nation is closely identified with this sea. An enormous number of legends and songs of the Ukrainian people deal with it; even in fanciful love-songs it is mentioned. And the intimacy of this East European nation with the Sea need not surprise us. The Black Sea, with which so much in Ukrainian song and story is connected, has had a significance in the history of the Ukraine which has not been forgotten in the unwritten traditions of the people. How many cultural and warlike memories are connected with the Black Sea! How much Ukrainian blood has mingled with its waters!
The Black Sea is not large (450,000 square kilometers). It is a landlocked sea, situated between Europe and Asia, and connected with the Mediterranean Sea by the narrow Straits of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmora, which, geologically speaking, is a basin formed by subsidence. Great subsidences of the earth’s surface created the deep basin of the Pontus. The Pontus was a part of the extensive upper Miocene and Sarmatian inland sea, which slightly flooded large districts of the present European continent as far as the Vienna basin. Toward the end of the tertiary period, this inland sea shrank and separated into single sea basins. The Pontian basin became connected with the Mediterranean Sea later, in the latter part of the diluvial period, by means of great subsidences of recent date.
The present morphology of the Pontus is in full accord with this genesis. The northern part, as far as the line of communication between the Balkan and Yaila Mountains, is a shallow sea of a depth of less than 200 meters; the so-called bay of Odessa is barely 50 meters deep; the Sea of Azof, projecting to the northeast, barely 15 meters. But just on the southern border of the line of plicated mountains, which is broken at this point, the bottom of the Black Sea declines rapidly to greater depths (1500 meters) until, declining more gradually now, it attains the depth [[17]]of 2245 meters in the center of the oval-shaped main basin of the Pontus.
The salt content of the Black Sea is much smaller than that of the ocean, or even of the Mediterranean. The Sea is comparatively small, and receives a great deal of fresh water from the many and large rivers of the region which it drains, while the influx of salt water from the Mediterranean thru the shallow straits cannot be great. The salt content is on the average 1.8%; only at great depths does it reach 2.2%. The diluted surface layer shows barely 1.5% salt content; the Sea of Azof hardly 1%. The surface water, containing little salt but a great deal of air, cannot, because of the greater density of the lower layers of water, sink far, and this low degree of ventilation accounts for the fact that the waters of the Black Sea below a depth of 230 meters are saturated with sulphide of hydrogen, and thus preclude any possibility of organic deep-sea life.
Nevertheless, the Black Sea is notable for its beautiful blue-green color and the great transparency of its waters. A white disc, on being submerged, disappeared only at a depth of 77 meters.
The surface temperature of the Black Sea is subject to many fluctuations; from 27° C in midsummer to 5° C in winter. In severe winters the Sea is frozen over in the bay of Odessa for a short time; the Limans and the Sea of Azof regularly for from two to three months.
The Black Sea has been known since hoary antiquity as a dangerous, stormy sea. The waves, running as high as 10 meters, the short cross-waves caused by the proximity of the shores, the difficult approaches to the land, are still a great hindrance to navigation, especially in the winter time. Not without cause did the Greeks originally call it “the inhospitable sea,” until the great number of flourishing Greek settlements on its shores led them to change its name [[18]]to “hospitable sea.” Despite this euphemistic name, however, “Pontus Euxeinos,” the Black Sea has devoured many goods and lives, many Greek and Roman ships, many Turkish and Genoese galleys, many English and Russian steamers. And many a little Zaporog vessel sank in the dark waves of its native sea, “on white cliffs dashed to pieces,” as is related in the old folk-epics; many a one was driven to far-off hostile Turkish shores, to the destruction of its crews.
Being a closed interior sea, the Pontus has no noticeable tides. Marked changes of level are caused by the action of the wind. In the liman of the Boh, for example, they produce 20 centimeters difference of level in a day, sometimes even 40 centimeters; in the bay of Yahórlik as much as 46 centimeters. The Sea of Azof becomes 45 to 90 centimeters deeper when there is a west wind, up to 1 meter deeper in the case of south winds, and shallower by an equal amount when the winds are in the opposite direction. Slight changes of level are dependent also on the seasons. The Black Sea has its lowest water level in February, when the region which it drains is covered with snow; the highest in May and June, as a result of the melting of the snows and the early summer rains. These fluctuations, however, amount to only 25 cm. The currents of the Black Sea, too, are inconsiderable, because of its isolation. Outside of local currents which are caused by winds, we know of only one greater current, weak in itself, which encircles the Pontian Basin in a counter clock-wise direction and may be traced to the cyclonal motion of the air. The same conditions obtain on a smaller scale on the Sea of Azof and are reflected in the direction of the tongues of land along the coasts.
Despite the fact that the deep-sea region of the Black Sea is poisoned with sulphide of hydrogen, it possesses a rich flora and fauna in its surface layers. Enormous [[19]]shoals of all kinds of fish—sturgeon, hausen, sterlet, “kephal,” “bichok,” “balmut,” come to the coast and into the limans of the river deltas. For this reason the Pontian fishing industry has been considerable for thousands of years. The extraction of salt from the limans and salt lakes is also important. Before the age of the railroad the abundance of fish and salt of the Black Sea created a special trucking trade in the Ukraine, the so-called Chumaki, who came to the Pontian strand in whole caravans of oxcarts to take dried fish and salt in exchange for grain.
The Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea begins at the delta of the Danube and ends at the western spurs of the Caucasus. The greater part is flat coast, the smaller, steep coast.
At the northern Kilian arm of the Danube delta, where now the descendants of the Zaporog Cossacks gain a scanty living thru fishing, begins the coast of the Ukraine. The steppe approaches the sea with a steep declivity, which is bordered by a narrow strand of sand and pebbles. The coast runs evenly as far as the Dnieper delta, without any indentations. Even the famous port of Odessa is an artificial harbor.
Only at a point where a river, a streamlet, even a balka (step-glen, ravine) opens into the sea, is the steep incline of the steppe-plateau broken. We then see before us an enormous pond as it were, at the upper end of which the water-course enters and the lower end of which is locked from the sea side by a land-tongue or bar (Kossá, Peresip) as by a flat dam. This sea-water lake is called liman in Ukrainian.
Wherever a stream of great volume empties into a liman, the bar is severed at one or more places. These liman deltas are called, in Ukrainian, hirló. Limans which have such connections with the sea are broken. Of such a kind are the limans of the Kunduk, Dniester, Boh and [[20]]Dnieper. Where a little streamlet discharges which has not a sufficient volume of water to cover the loss from evaporation of the liman surface and still retain an excess for keeping open the outlet, then the bar of the liman is without an opening and the water contains a great deal of salt. Of this kind are, above all, the limans of Kuyalnik and Khadshibé near Odessa, the large, deep Tilihúl and many smaller ones. The water and the mud of such limans possess healing powers, and every summer thousands of patients travel to the hot shores of the limans to regain their health.
The limans are simply submerged eroded valleys of steppe rivers which are now being filled in by alluvial deposits. Therefore, the limans of all larger rivers are too shallow to serve as good harbors for the larger sea-going vessels. The liman of the Dniester allows entrance only to small ships drawing two meters of water; the gigantic Dnieper liman is only 6 m. deep, and only the Boh liman is accessible to larger sea-going ships. Systematic dredging, however, could, without a doubt, bring relief, and would change a number of the limans into profitable harbors.
Beginning at the liman of the Dnieper, the coast is strongly indented as far as the bay of Karkinit, but these indentations (Yahórlik, Tendra, Kharilgach) are closed off by long tongues of land and the undersea extension of the bar of Bakalsk. The west coast of Crimea is also a uniform liman coast, increasing constantly in height, however, toward the south. At the Alma delta the coast becomes steep and has two excellent harbors, Sevastopol and Balaklava, which are submerged deep valleys. The southeast coast of the Crimean peninsula is a strongly marked acclivitous shore. The steep descent of the Yaila Mountains has been transformed here, thru the abrasive action of the sea, into a beautiful coastline. Eruptive rock, capable of offering great resistance, is found here in places, [[21]]forming picturesque capes, jetties and crags, between which lie pretty little bays and coves. The agreeable climate, the clear sky, the good sea-baths and the beautiful country annually lure to this Ukrainian Riviera thousands of consumptives and health-seekers. There are rows and rows of cottage-colonies and mansions.
Beginning at the crescent-shaped bay of Feodosia, the coast again becomes lower and also has a number of salty lagoons and bars. Of the same description are the coasts of the Strait of Kerch, leading into the Sea of Azof, which is 35,000 sq. km. in area. This extremely flat sea is often compared to a liman. Numerous tongues of land (Biriucha, Obitochna, Berdianska, Kossa, etc.) jut out here into the sea, showing very clearly in their direction the effect of the cyclonal motion of the air. The low coast has an enormous number of limans and lagoons, e.g., Utluk, Mius, Molochni, Yeski, Akhtirski, Tamanski, Kisiltash, etc. The most remarkable part of the Sea of Azof, however, is the Sivash. A bar 111 km. in length shuts the Sivash off from the Sea of Azof, leaving only a connecting passage of 150 m., near Henichesk. The curiously ragged banks of red-clay, the salt swamps, lagoons and islands, the bracken, ill-smelling water, which is salty in summer, and in a few spots at other times as well, have given the Sivash the name of Foul Sea (Hnile More).
The eastern part of the Ukraine’s Black Sea coast is a mountainous cliff-coast again. The plications of the western Caucasus, which approach the sea obliquely, are here so quickly destroyed by the powerful abrasive action of the surf, that the erosive action of the rivers and mountain streams cannot keep pace. Therefore, the crest is difficult of access and only the two harbors of Novorossiysk and Gelendshik offer shelter for ships along this part of the coast. But even this shelter is doubtful, because of the bora-like winds. [[22]]
As we perceive from this description of the Ukrainian coast, it is not one which would promote navigation among the inhabitants. Lack of harbors, isolation, remoteness from the main lines of the world’s traffic, never could have an encouraging effect upon the development of navigation among the Ukrainians. Despite all this, however, they developed very high seafaring qualities in the time of the old Kingdom of Kiev and later on in the Cossack period, and the present age, too, has brought a revival of the nautical skill of the Ukrainian coast population. [[23]]