In a novel I am reading, it is mentioned that the 19th century French call the doldrums “le pot au noir”.
Google translate says that is “the Doldrums”.
A lot of help.
The black pot?
Yes, the literal translation for the term is “the black pot” - “pitch pot” might be implied, “black hole” might be a good translation.
Thank you. I wonder how that describes an area of the ocean where sailing ships had no wind and drifted about.
Ah pitch pot. Floating about aimlessly, the heat melting the pitch between the planks and hull, requiring melted pitch to repair.
Thanks again!
According to online sourses, the origin of the name is unknown, possibly a translation of a similar Portuguese name.
Not quite this. The thinking is that, in the doldrums, vessels proceed so sluggishly that they might as well be sailing through pitch rather than water. Hence the doldrums are like a giant pot of pitch.
As an aside, everything thrown overboard from a sailing ship stuck in the doldrums stays with the ship. A couple of hundred men on a frigate would create a lot of waste which just floated around the ship.