ABSTRACT
THERE are, besides, narrow outlets and entrances in northern waters, which cause no little alarm, especially when one is sailing in from the open sea towards the city of Stockholm. This is a royal city, notably fortified by Nature and art, 1 so that those who purpose to attack it are rightly compelled to worry about the loyalty or treachery of their mariners in trying to overcome successfully the perils confronting them. However, the principal and most dangerous place is Stendorren, whose name signifies ‘the door of stone’, since the approach twists every way through narrow straits and crescent-shaped reaches, sometimes in the form of a Scythian bow, sometimes with the appearance of a sword point, where sailors must steer clear of the banks. 2 Among these they may chance to go astray in far greater danger, because of the thick mists and fogs that arise, than they would encounter in the wide expanses of Ocean at the onset of the strongest gale.
City of Stockholm
Stendörren
Various shapes of waterways
