Alexander Belyaev. Island of lost ships (№ 388508)

- Look at that water, he said, pointing to the boundless expanse of the ocean. The Pacific and Atlantic oceans is two hundred fifty-five million square kilometres - twice the area than all five parts of the world together. No wonder the ocean has long served as a symbol of infinity, of power, of unconquered will. He is tireless in his kindness and in anger... He gives infinitely many, but it may take away all the life. No wonder that in ancient times it was worshipped. But this "God" was defeated in the very moment when a primitive man who fell into the water accidentally grabbed a floating tree trunk and found that this gun keeps it on the water. From this moment begins the history of the conquest of the ocean - the history of navigation. To give the piece of wood most stable, learn to control it at will - that's what was the progress in the field of shipbuilding for many millennia.