Sargasso Sea debris can absorb toxic chemicals from ocean pollution, potentially poisoning anything that eats it. The Sargasso Sea is often portrayed in literature and the media as an area of mystery. The Sargasso Sea features in classic fantasy stories by William Hope Hodgson, such as his novel "The Boats of the "Glen Carrig"" (1907), Victor Appleton's Don Sturdy novel "Don Sturdy in the Port of Lost Ships: Or, Adrift in the Sargasso Sea", and several related short stories. Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" describes the Sargasso Sea and gives an account of its formation. The Sargasso Sea is
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea not to a "depth", as 20,000 leagues (80,000 km) is nearly twice the circumference of the Earth. The greatest depth mentioned in the book is four leagues. The book uses metric leagues, which are four kilometres each. During the year 1866, ships of several nations spot a mysterious sea monster, which some suggest to be a giant narwhal. The United States government assembles an expedition in New York City to find and destroy the monster. Professor Pierre Aronnax, a French marine biologist and narrator of the story, who happens to be in New York at the time, receives a last-minute