We are told that prior to the Columbus and Magellan voyages, most
persons believed the Earth was flat. It is true that some Greek
philosophers said the Earth was a sphere. In any event, if one thought
Columbus would sail off the edge of the Earth, why didn't they reason
the oceans would drain off the edges long before Columbus? In other
words, did they believe in a magic wall which contained the oceans
which could nonetheless be penetrated by a puny wooden ship?

It's great to hear from you again, Monroe! Thanks for asking for me.
Regarding the matter of flat-earthers and the oceans, from what I've
read, things usually come down to one of two explanations:

1. It's a miracle.

2. The earth is not totally flat, but is slightly concave, like
   a shallow bowl, with walls at the edge that hold the water in.

I've gathered some online info for you.

"[Martin] Luther believed that the oceans were higher than the land,
and that it was a perpetual miracle that they did not flood the land.
Behind this lies a belief that the surface of the earth-water globe is
circular but that gravity acts as if the earth were flat."

Pages of Norman Swartz: The Myth of the Flat Earth
http://www.sfu.ca/philosophy/swartz/flat_earth.htm

"While flat-Earthers know that the ocean is really just a large bowl,
(with great sheets of ice around the edges to hold the ocean back),
and the atmosphere is contained by a large dome, the backwards
'round-Earth' way of thinking would have you believe that all those
trillions of gallons of water and air just 'stick' to the planet's
surface."

The Flat Earth Society: Why a Flat Earth?
http://www.alaska.net/~clund/e_djublonskopf/FlatWhyFlat.htm

It should be kept in mind that not everyone in earlier times believed
that the earth was flat. Here are some interesting articles on the
subject:

Bede's Library: The Myth of the Flat Earth
http://www.bede.org.uk/flatearth.htm

LewRockwell.com: The Flat Earth Myth
http://www.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods46.html

The Biblical Creation Society: The Scandalous "Flat Earth" Myth
http://www.biblicalcreation.org.uk/educational_issues/bcs105.html

Strange Horizons: Modern Medieval Map Myths
http://www.strangehorizons.com/2002/20020610/medieval_maps.shtml

I'll close with a wonderful bit of dialogue from Edgar Rice Burroughs'
"The Moon Men":

" 'You think the earth is flat.'

'And who is there that does not think so? Can we not see that it is
flat? Look about you-it is like a large, round, flat cake.'

'With land in the center and water all round the land?' he asked.

'Of course.'

'What keeps the water from running off the edge?' he wanted to know.

I had never thought about that, and so I returned the only answer that
I could think of at the time.

'The Flag, of course,' I said.

'Do not be a fool, my brother,' said Rain Cloud. 'You are a great
warrior and a mighty chief; you should be wise, and the wise man knows
that nothing, not even the Flag, can keep water from running down hill
if it is not confined.'

'Then it must be confined,' I argued. 'There must be land to hold the
water from running over the edge of the world.'

'And what is beyond that land?'

'Nothing,' I replied confidently.

'What do the hills stand on? What does the earth stand on?'

'It floats on a great ocean,' I explained.

'With hills around it to keep its water from running over its edge?'

'I suppose so.'

'And what upholds that ocean and those hills?' he went on.

'Do not be foolish,' I told him. 'I suppose there must be another
ocean below that one.'

'And what holds it up?'

I thought he would never stop. I do not enjoy thinking about such useless things."

Project Gutenberg of Australia: The Moon Men
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500221h.html

My Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: flat earth oceans
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=flat+earth+oceans

Best always,
Pink

Pink:  As always, you excel. ( I have been absent briefly because of
computer glitch.) Hope you are well.
Monroe22

In the Bible, in the book of Isaiah, written by the prophet Isaiah, in
Jerusalem, in 732 B.C.E., at chapter 40, verse 22: 22 There is One who
is dwelling above the circle of the earth, the dwellers in which are
as grasshoppers, the One who is stretching out the heavens just as a
fine gauze, who spreads them out like a tent in which to dwell, 23 the
One who is reducing high officials to nothing, who has made the very
judges of the earth as a mere unreality".
"THE CIRCLE OF THE EARTH". The ancient world, through the scriptures,
knew that the earth was round. The Phoenecian seamen knew it. It gave
them the confidence to circumnavigate Africa and they may well have
made it to the Americas.
It was 'orgainised religion' that kept the information hidden from
most of the ordinary people of the day. It was they who promoted the '
flat earth' idea, to keep secret what we all now know is simple
goegraphy. The world is a ball. Just as it says at Job 26; 7 He is
stretching out the north over the empty place,
Hanging the earth upon nothing;
An exact description of what the earth looks like from space.
Makes you think Eh!.

Monroe22,

Thank you very much for the kind words, the five stars, and the
generous tip! May your glitches be few, and your bugs be "features."
:-)

~Pink

Pugwash,

You might want to read the articles linked above that are related to
the "flat earth" myth. There's some interesting material there.

~Pink

"Stephen Hawking in A Brief History Of Time starts with the anecdote.
A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a
public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the
sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the centre of a vast collection
of stars called our galaxy. 

At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at
the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish.
The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant
tortoise." 

The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is
the tortoise standing on?" 

"You're very clever, young man, very clever,"
said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down."
http://www.the-funneled-web.com/Hawking.htm