2024-06-02 01:51:50
“I might have gladly moved additional to Juodkrantė, however the fishermen sincerely didn’t advise me, reminding me of the monster of the Spit – the sticky sand,” he wrote in 1867. German journalist Ottas Glagau (1834–1892) who traveled via the Curonian Spit.
Saved by the canine
Press employee Alfonsas Nevardauskas (1902–1970) described his impressions after moving into the quicksand fairly vividly in his pre-war memoir “Seashores, pamariais” (1963). The expertise was so vivid that the author wanted a separate chapter referred to as “Kiaurasmėlis”.
One morning in November, A. Nevardauskas, who was on responsibility on the border service, walked together with his trustworthy canine Zenta and explored the coast of the spit, after which turned in the direction of the lagoon. “Zenta is buzzing round stuffed with vitality. Whereas loud night breathing, look, she picks up one different rabbit hidden in greater locations from the flood and begins to chase. Nonetheless, when the whistle blew, she would cease so abruptly that her entrance legs would even sink into the sand. After one such whistle, I see that her legs have sunk into the sand as much as her chest. Mendacity and never shifting. After the second whistle, she jumped up from her place, shamefully wagging her tail, and approached me,” A. Nevardauskas described as if it had been a prelude to a future disagreeable journey.
The person intentionally knelt down at Drumzak: so within the 18th-Nineteenth centuries. the German maps point out a particular place – a harmful stretch of the ocean, situated about 5 km south of Juodkrantė. The proprietor of Zenta, who was clinging exhausting to the inexperienced of the vegetation, abruptly noticed an open, sandy space on the foot of the dune, proper subsequent to the water.
“That pitch was proper in entrance of me. To inform you the reality, I did not stroll, I simply jumped in and did not even really feel how I bought caught as much as my shins. Ah, so I fell right into a quicksand, and with this thought I threw off my raincoat and laid it subsequent to me. I threw the rifle I had throughout him and locked myself on the rifle. Zenta, realizing that I used to be in peril, started to growl and bark. Seeing that I used to be sinking, I unbuckled my belt and, placing the buckle into the tip of the rope I used to be holding, threw Zenta onto the sandy shore to the nervously leaping Zenta,” the author recalled.
The trustworthy canine, growling and pulling again, dragged his grasp to the shore with all his would possibly. “I felt that my toes had been popping out of my footwear. Finally my arms reached the sleek, sandy shore. <...> When he freed himself, he felt sorry for brand spanking new footwear. I made a decision to save lots of them too. <...> Not solely did I save myself, however I additionally bought my footwear out of the sand,” he was blissful concerning the blissful ending.
A. Nevardauskas succumbed to the researcher’s curiosity and… he returned to the sticky sand once more, however he was already carrying a ten-meter-long pole, which he referred to as aile. “After I used to be carried to the sandbar that appeared, I attempted to find out its depth. Sadly, I nailed the entire row and there was no signal of it. Nobody may say the place and when the sandbar appeared in Drumzak,” shrugged the creator of “Seashores, seashores”.
Sand – as much as the neck
There have been extra horrible tales that take us again to even earlier occasions. Historian of Klaipėda College Assoc. Dr. Nijolė Strakauskaitė in 2001 in his revealed guide “The Curonian Spit – the European Mail Route” notes that, regardless of the alternate options to journey from Mēmel to Karaliaučiai alongside the east coast or by waterway, absolutely the majority of vacationers selected a straighter and shorter, comparatively extra handy route via the Curonian Spit.
“And this journey by no means lacked sharp sensations. That is additionally testified by a traveler from Russia who drove via the Curonian Spit in 1814: “The trucker’s cry of worry woke me up from my candy goals. Instantly I sprang to my toes and noticed my horses buried as much as their necks within the sand. For the cart, desirous to make it simpler for the horses, turned except for the deep ruts and fell into the sinking sand, during which the horses bought caught <...>. The six males, nonetheless, labored for a full three hours earlier than extracting the horses and the sinking sand. Disasters are frequent right here: individuals, carriages, horses drown, and nobody is aware of the place they disappeared, as a result of solely a uncommon one that will get caught is saved,” the scientist quoted the Russian as saying.
Not everybody believed in lectures to scare youngsters with bedtime tales concerning the disastrous phenomenon of the Curonian Spit’s quicksand. One such was the German geologist Gottlieb Berendt (1836–1920). He didn’t imagine till 1868, when he himself fell into the jaws of the “spit monster”. Whereas touring in a cart (they was once bicycles, mild with widened wheels to stop them from getting caught within the sand), the German fell down the Pomeranian dunes from Pervalka to Preila. Every little thing may have ended sadly, however the traveler managed to succeed in Preila and name for assist. When the lads rushed in, the horses had been already caught as much as their backs.
A couple of traveler wrote concerning the stretches of sand referred to as drimzaku by the locals, and native fishermen had been blissful to inform the tales. Even within the interwar interval, there have been warning alerts that on the western, mild slopes of the hills, at sure occasions of the yr, the well-known “fast sand” bands may be seen right here, the place careless vacationers used to sink in and sometimes perish.
Created legends
Within the guide “Lietuvos Sahara” (first version – 1923, second version – 1937), which made the Curonian Spit well-known within the interwar interval, journalist and participant within the wrestle for the annexation of Klaipėda area, Juozas Pronskus (1893-1984) merely couldn’t assist however point out the legendary drymzak. It was described in 1937. revealed within the a part of the guide referred to as “Užmaris Fishermen’s Tales”.
“Between Juodkrantė and Pervelka, close to the white hills, there’s a small bay of the Curonian Lagoon, Drimzak. Nobody is fishing in Drimzak. The underside of Drimzak sinks from the sting of the dunes to the very depths of the lagoon. As well as, they’re continuously performing there (performing – creator’s submit), inflicting quite a lot of losses to fishermen, holding up their nets, releasing their caught fish and scaring the fishermen with all kinds of methods,” he wrote.
It’s instructed a couple of courageous boy Albert, who as soon as visited the fishermen, who befriended different boys and went out all evening to spend the evening within the dunes.
“The extra crafty fisherman lured Albert away from one other fisherman and went with him to the drimzak to fish on Saturday evening. The fisherman pulls out the tip of his internet, however Albert does not let go of his. “Albert, let me! Albert, will you let me?”, asks the fisherman. However no reply, nor Alberto. “Did not Peter cease?”, thought the fisherman and determined to defend himself with the phrase of God, went to see Albert. The rope was tied to the strict, and Albert was gone with the entire ship and oars. Within the internet that was so exhausting to drag – an enormous stump. Since then, fishermen have been avoiding fishing in Drimzak,” J. Pronskus concluded the story.
It may be famous that Peter on this story is a legendary scoundrel who performed and killed fishermen within the place the place he constructed a synthetic island and constructed the Pervalka lighthouse.
A seasonal phenomenon
So, quicksand just isn’t a fantasy, however the legendary place of drimzak about 5 km north of Juodkrantė, at Naglii Ragu, can nonetheless be discovered. Solely it’s already coated with lush reeds and is not harmful.
In keeping with scientists, drimzakas are grey pits on the western facet of the white dunes, on the foot, on the fringe of the valley, the place water voles used to collect. Viscous sand is sand that has settled within the groundwater, and if you stand on it, your toes begin to sink. When strolling rapidly, its floor sways and sways, like a carpet of low-lying marshes or a swamp, and after a delay, it rapidly begins to sink. The sand appears to be sucked down. The extra you bear in mind, the quicker you stumble.
It’s true that if the dunes are useless (inexperienced), we are going to not have these volks. Nonetheless, they’re nonetheless forming on the japanese facet, nearer to the lagoon. Even immediately, a harmful stretch of quicksand exists on the foot of the western slope of Spherical Tree Dune close to Šarkuva. Bigger stretches of loamy sand had been discovered between Rasytė and Pilkope, south of Nida and north of Pervalka. Treacherous swaying quicksand may definitely destroy horse-drawn carriages, and possibly individuals.
In summer season, there isn’t any drymzak – it seems solely in spring and autumn. Viscous sand is very harmful within the spring, when the water stage rises excessive within the hollows on the foot of the dunes and, in consequence, the viscosity of the sand will increase. Beneath sure climate situations, small islands of the legendary sticky sand are fashioned even now: what it means to enter them, the creator of those traces needed to see for himself just a few years in the past.
An space of darker sand stood out at Grobšto Bay in Pamaria, and upon getting into it, the coast started to sway and the legs started to tingle. Solely, after all, less than the neck, however the extra I struggled, the tougher Drimzak pulled deeper. It took effort to dig out of such a rut.
2024-06-02 01:51:50