This is an underwater feature east of the Gulf of Maine. 

The Gulf of Maine is the coastline for famous places like Boston, Cape Cod, and Portland, Maine, not Portland (Oregon), nor Portland (Texas), nor Portland (Tennessee), nor Portland (Connecticut). 

They were pushed into the Gulf of Maine by the incoming tide. The friction between the northbound Gulf Stream and the southbound Labrador Current creates eddies, or slow -moving whirlpools that mix the water between the two currents. 

While the average tidal range worldwide is about three feet, the Gulf of Maine area has the deepest range of tides in the world, with differences between high tide and low tide being up to 50 feet. 

“Mr. Dorp, In the moonlight, I can see the tide going in, and we’re part of it.” 

I lost my poor meatball, when somebody sneezed.
It rolled off the table, and onto the floor
and then my poor meatball, rolled right out the door. It rolled through the garden, and under a bush
and then my poor meatball, turned right into moooosh.
It was a beef meatball, Sam said.” 

“So what do you think, huh, Mr. Dorp?” 

“Sam, you’re so close to Broadway, and yet so far away. Would you like to hear the song in Italian?” 

“Sulla parte superiore di spaghetti
con formaggio
ho perso il mio povero inamorato
quando qualcuno ha starnutito

E rotolare fuori della tabella e sul pavimento
e poi la mia povera polpetta laminati
diritto fuori della porta
E laminati attraverso il giardino e sotto un cespuglio
e poi la mia povera polpetta girato a destra in poltiglia” 

“Wow! When did you learn Italian, if that’s what it was?” 

“I’ve been around, and have spent time in the great Opera House in Florence, 

though I must admit that my version does not rhyme as does the English version.” 

“I really hate waiting, Mr. Dorp!” 

“Sam, I once spent 350 years locked in a bottle in a cave. Let’s do a quiz to help pass the time.” 

“Sitting in a fish, and now a quiz, on summer vacation. Woe is me!” 

“It’s appropriate that we are in Queens, Sam, since you’re acting like such a drama queen.” 

Sam gave a large sigh: “First question?” 

“We’re going over terms applied to water. Tell me what types of water there are.” 

“Yes Sir; fresh or salt water, potable or non-potable, still or moving waters, are the main categories. Then we have rain, drizzle, mist, snow, hail, sleet, dew, fog, vapor, steam, frost and ice.” 

“Good. Name some relatively still bodies of water in natural form.” 

“Hmm. Puddle, pool, pond, lagoon, lake, cove, bay, bayou, aquifer, swamp, wetlands, SPAGHETTI WITH BLUEFISH!!!” 

“I said in natural form, Sam. Okay; now name distinctly moving waters.” 

“Easy! Spring, brook, stream, creek, river, waterfalls, delta and geyser, sea and ocean.” 

“Okay Sam; now name large bodies of water.” 

“Oceans, seas, gulfs, big rivers, aquifers, polar caps and…glaciers.” 

“Nice touch, Sam. Now, what devices do humans use to store, transport or use water? 

“Argh, matey. That’s a long’un. Bottles, cups, vats, skins, canteens, tanks, tankards and tankers, water towers, reservoirs, pipelines, sprayers, squirt guns, garden hoses, water balloons, irrigation canals, steam boilers, ice cube trays, washing machines, soup pots, radiators, tea kettles, water fountains, flower vases. Dishwashers, kitchen and bathroom sinks, water parks, bathtubs and showers, ugh, toilets, livestock watering tanks, swimming pools, mill ponds, birdbaths, drinking straws, pet water dishes, hospital IVs, hot water bottles, fire trucks, and steam irons.” 

“Sam; why do you say ‘ugh’ about toilets. Imagine life without them, especially at school. You would need to have 3 extra pair of underwear in your backpack at all times. Now list adjectives that describes things with water in them or on them." 

“Speaking of underwear; wet, damp, moist, soggy, saturated, waterlogged?” 

“Define a River, Galileo.” 

“OK; first, a river exists, not because it gives water, but because it collects water. As the water leaves saturated ground via gravity, gravity pulls it to the lowest level. As other water molecules do the same, a moving body of water is formed.” 

“What is ‘Stream Order’?” 

“Sir; It is the classification of streams from the smallest to the largest, with twelve different levels. Where the Mississippi begins in Minnesota is a 1st Order Stream; at New Orleans, it is a 12th Order Stream.” 

“Good. What do you call the birthplace of moving water?” 

“The headwaters, Sir!” 

“What do call the merging of two rivers?” 

“The confluence.” “Where does a river and ocean meet?” 

“At the café at the dock? Or maybe at the estuary.” 

“Cute. At the estuary. Sam, how many gallons in a cubic foot of water, and what does a gallon of water weigh?” 

“A cubic foot container holds 7.48 gallons of any liquid, and a gallon of water weighs 8.34 pounds at 60° F., at sea level, which means a cubic foot of water weighs 62.38 pounds, plus the container.” 

“Good. What is the study of water called?” 

“Hydrology.” 

“Good,” Dorp said. “Is Dihydrogen monoxide a poisonous chemical?” 

“It sure sounds like it." 

“Sam, Dihydrogen monoxide is another name for water. Name a few trades that depend on water for their existence.”

“Plumbers, divers, fishermen, lifeguards, watercolor artists, artists who paint water and sailing scenes, pump makers and repairmen, tugboat crews, sailors, surf and fishing supply shops, dam builders, hydro-electricians, canal gate operators, water and sewer workers, water and sewer line builders, crop and lawn irrigation people, cruise ship and hot water spa employees.” 

Finally, Sam and Dorp were eaten in a helping of bluefish. The plumber’s niece, Maria, dug into the platter and lifted out a helping and put it on her plate, along with some of the sauce that Sam can’t spell. Maria talked of her plan to attend another open-air art fair the next Saturday. 

She is a single girl who works as a fitter in a dress shop but aspires to be a potter. Her Uncle Tony, the plumber, lets her keep her potting wheel in one corner of his shop. She has no ceramic kiln but pays the hobby shop down the street to fire her pieces. 

But for now, she earns extra money helping people write love notes on wet clay, then firing them into hard shards and putting them on string to be given as romantic gifts. She goes to open-air art shows and craft fairs on weekends and does this. Since this is custom-order work, she mails the finished pieces to the customers or to their beau. 

A couple of months ago, she made a shard for a handsome young man, fired it, and went to mail it. He wanted it mailed to his work address, which Maria realized was just a couple of blocks from her workplace. She decided to hand-deliver the shard over her lunch hour. When she took it to him, he took the shard, but looked sad. Maria asked him what was wrong. She was afraid he didn’t like the finished product. He said he saw his girlfriend with another man. Maria felt bad for him. 

Last week, this same man found her at an art fair, and asked her out on a date. She gave him her phone number but said she didn’t know if she was able to date, because she helps look after her elderly grandmother; but they could talk on the phone. 

Uncle Tony heard that and said, ‘that’s an excuse’. Maria again protested and said that the young man’s name is also Tony, and it would cause too much confusion. Since they’re not related, they couldn’t call them Big Tony and Little Tony. 

Uncle Tony then said that everyone could call him ‘Handsome Tony’ and call the boy ‘Ugly Tony’. Maria shrieked and pretended she was going to launch a forkful of fish at him. 

Uncle Tony swerved and said, ‘See! You’re already defensive for him’. 

Maria harrumphed, put her head down and went back to eating, a little red in the cheeks. Maria ate the fish containing 

Sam and Dorp, so that meant they might go to the arts and crafts fair on Saturday. After Sunday dinner, they went with Maria as she went about her life, and they wound up in her tear duct on her eye that next Saturday morning.

Sam said, “Vlissengen becomes Flushing. Why are Dutch words so strange?” 

“They’re not strange, Sam. They’re just different and have their own reason for being what they are. The Dutch also have a word for ‘town.’ It is ‘dorp’. There is a neighborhood on the east side of Staten Island called New Dorp.” 

“Wow!” Can we go there? I’ve been with a dorp, but never to a dorp.” 

“I don’t know if that will happen. We’ll have to see, Sam.” 

“But seriously, Mr. Dorp, I wished we could have come to New York from the Great Lakes so I could ride the Erie Canal.” 

“If we had, we would not have just ridden the Erie Canal; we would have been the Erie Canal. The locks and dirt banks and such are the containers for the true canal, which is the water. Besides, look at the ride you had down the Mississippi River, though the Gulf of Mexico and up the eastern seaboard.” 

“Abe Lincoln rode a flatboat down the river, then left the flatboat in New Orleans. Is that what they did on canals before steamboats and gas engines?” 

“No, Sam. Canals are slow-moving two-way water-streets, but the water flows in just one direction. The boats used horses or mules to carry the boats upstream, and to speed the boat going downstream. Some boats even carried spare pulling-animals. These boats carried freight, people, or both. The fancy people-haulers, called ‘packets,’ were dressed up as much as possible for narrow river boats of the day. They fed and berthed the travelers.” 

 “What do you mean birthed? Did the women have babies on the boat?” 

“Although I suspect there were babies born on these boats, I said berth, not birth. The word berth has several meanings. 

It is a space on the dock where ships dock. It is also a narrow bed on a ship or train where overnight travelers can sleep.” 

“Hmm. Did canals really help people back then? It seems like a lot of work to dig a canal, especially without machines.”