Maelstrom

A situation or state of confused movements or violent turmoil.

An illustration from 1919 by Harry Clarke of a boat caught in a maelstrom (sense 1) for Edgar Allan Poe’s short story A Descent into the Maelström (1841).[n 1] The word was originally the name of a giant whirlpool off Norway in the Arctic Ocean which was said to destroy all ships that came close to it, likely the actual tidal pool system of Moskstraumen in Lofoten.

vortex