Available Fresh Water in Oceans

name         Karen
location     NY

Question -   Is there any fresh water in the ocean where a 
ship can pull in and fill their water tanks to use?  A World War 
I veteran remembers there were places they used to do this, but 
not sure where.
------------------------------------------------------
Fresh water can be found at the mouths of major rivers, but the 
largest fresh water source in salt water oceans would be icebergs.

Vince Calder
====================================================================
Your veteran has a good memory.

According to old ship's logs and sailors' diaries, sailing ships
hundreds miles off east of the mouth of the Amazon River would dip
buckets into the sea and get drinkable water!  Why?  Because fresh water
is less dense (weighs less) than salt water.  The fresh water would
float on top of the seawater and go hundreds of miles like that until
the two waters were mixed by winds and other factors.

I would expect this is true to some extent around all the great rivers
of the world such as the Congo, Nile, etc.


Bob Avakian
Oklahoma State Univ.- Okmulgee
====================================================================