Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean, also known as the Western Ocean, (TV: War of the Sontarans [+]Loading...["War of the Sontarans (TV story)"]) was an Earth ocean that bordered North America, South America, Europe and Africa.
Beneath the Atlantic Ocean were ocean trenches. The high pressure in these trenches meant that fish had to be specially adapted in order to survive. The Torchwood Hub had an aquarium containing deep-sea fish from the Atlantic Ocean. (PROSE: Slow Decay [+]Loading...["Slow Decay (novel)"])
The British Isles were situated to the east of the North Atlantic. (TV: The Lie of the Land [+]Loading...["The Lie of the Land (TV story)"]) Further south, the Cape Verd Isles were located in the Atlantic Ocean to the west of North Africa. (TV: War of the Sontarans [+]Loading...["War of the Sontarans (TV story)"])
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
Early history[[edit] | [edit source]]
Circa 400,000,000 BC, the area of Earth that would later become the middle of the Atlantic was a vast, rocky wasteland. (TV: City of Death [+]Loading...["City of Death (TV story)"])
During the Miocene, geological activity in Western Europe blocked off what would be known as the Straits of Gibraltar, sealing off the Mediterranean, which dried up, leaving a salty plain. Towards the end of the Miocene, the Atlantic broke through and refilled the basin in a cataclysmic flood. (PROSE: Prehistory Repeating Itself [+]Loading...["Prehistory Repeating Itself (feature)"])
According to legend, Atlantis was located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Another, however, held it to be part of the Minoan civilisation. (TV: The Time Monster [+]Loading...["The Time Monster (TV story)"])
19th century[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Mary Celeste, on course from New York to Genoa, (PROSE: A History of Humankind [+]Loading...["A History of Humankind (novel)"]) encountered first the First Doctor and the TARDIS and then the Daleks while crossing the Atlantic in 1872. The crew abandoned ship to escape the latter. The mysteriously abandoned ship passed into legend (TV: The Chase [+]Loading...["The Chase (TV story)"]) after it was found, abandoned, midway between the Azores and Portugal on 4 December. (PROSE: The Chase [+]Loading...["The Chase (novelisation)"])
20th century[[edit] | [edit source]]
In 1912, the RMS Titanic was crossing the Atlantic when it famously hit an iceberg and sank. (PROSE: The Left-Handed Hummingbird [+]Loading...["The Left-Handed Hummingbird (novel)"])
In 1915, during World War I, the Doctor's TARDIS materialised on a ship crossing the Atlantic which was shortly hit by a German torpedo and sank. (AUDIO: The Sirens of Time [+]Loading...["The Sirens of Time (audio story)"])
In November 1930, the Tenth Doctor savoured the Atlantic breeze upon his arrival in New York. (TV: Daleks in Manhattan [+]Loading...["Daleks in Manhattan (TV story)"])
In 1943, during the Second World War, U-boats operated in the North Atlantic. (TV: The Curse of Fenric [+]Loading...["The Curse of Fenric (TV story)"])
In the 1960s, Ben Jackson served in the Atlantic. (AUDIO: The Mouthless Dead [+]Loading...["The Mouthless Dead (audio story)"])
The Doctor's TARDIS landed on the Queen Mary in 1963. (PROSE: Ghost Ship [+]Loading...["Ghost Ship (novel)"])
A version of Atlantis was found at the Atlantic Ridge, west of Gibraltar and south of the Azores. Around the 20th century, Professor Zaroff discovered the surviving Atlanteans and proposed to raise their settlement from the ocean floor. This would have destroyed the Earth. Zaroff died in the attempt due to the Second Doctor's intervention. (TV: The Underwater Menace [+]Loading...["The Underwater Menace (TV story)"])
The South Atlantic was observed by UNIT radar. (TV: The Claws of Axos [+]Loading...["The Claws of Axos (TV story)"])
In 1992, a Cyber-Fleet hid beneath the Atlantic Ocean and attempted to conquer Earth, but were destroyed by the Sixth Doctor turning the Cybermen's dehydration weapons against them. (AUDIO: Hour of the Cybermen [+]Loading...["Hour of the Cybermen (audio story)"])
In Roma I, the Roman Empire included marine cities in the Atlantic Ocean. (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia [+]Loading...["Warlords of Utopia (novel)"])
21st century[[edit] | [edit source]]
In 2010, Jo Jones and Santiago Jones heard of the Eleventh Doctor's death and wanted to go to his funeral. They used a cargo plane to get across the Atlantic to Dublin. From there they took ferry to Wales. (TV: Death of the Doctor [+]Loading...["Death of the Doctor (TV story)"], PROSE: Death of the Doctor [+]Loading...["Death of the Doctor (novelisation)"])
By the 2010s, the North Atlantic garbage patch was situated in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, a "floating landfill" of marine trash. The Nestene Consciousness took control of this massive collection of plastic. (AUDIO: Sargasso [+]Loading...["Sargasso (audio story)"])
When The Trickster attacked a memorial for Sarah Jane Smith, the attendees managed to defeat him, shrinking him down to the size of a doll. The Trickster was then locked in a chest and dumped to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean for the next thousand years. (WC: Farewell, Sarah Jane [+]Loading...["Farewell, Sarah Jane (webcast)"])
Far future[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Great Atlantic Smog Storm had lasted for 20 years as of 200,100. (TV: Bad Wolf [+]Loading...["Bad Wolf (TV story)"])
Undated events[[edit] | [edit source]]
The America crossed the Atlantic in 17 days. (TV: Enlightenment [+]Loading...["Enlightenment (TV story)"])
Legacy[[edit] | [edit source]]
A New Atlantic was located on New Earth. (TV: Gridlock [+]Loading...["Gridlock (TV story)"])
Other realities[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Year That Never Was[[edit] | [edit source]]
During the Year That Never Was, Martha Jones was said to have sailed the Atlantic. (TV: Last of the Time Lords [+]Loading...["Last of the Time Lords (TV story)"])
References[[edit] | [edit source]]
In an account where Susan was not a student at Coal Hill School, but was instead tutored by Barbara Wright, she thought that Australia was in the Atlantic Ocean, when it was emphatically not. (PROSE: Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks [+]Loading...["Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks (novelisation)"])
