New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-02-24
c,pqURE OF THE SEA SERPENT.
xo,oSe.HrLl, AT SEA, Feb. 6, 1852.


non ..me Of the Northern pof'' in'eho 70 'p,at
"" ,.roossiy to scquain' through your wioeT cur
go ioursal, the people OF 'ne ohi'ea So ",.a
~ Of me existence and capture OIL 'he pea ger
monster deemed fabulous oy many-ou' sne
~ those existence 10 forever settled, and
MI, be excused in saying by Yankee lntre-
pxly Ia, r. when in latitude 3 deg
-, sou,h. and Longitude l3i deg 80 min West,
80 m the lookout, seated on the fore top mast
..',,.e, SANG out "white water" and In reply
oswh.,e svayi" said Two points on the lee
W. s,,,osinx il to be made by sperm whales
,,,ious TO obtain oil, ordered the ship 70
-, IA and Immediately went aloft with my spy
-" viii observe tina. for several days we had
~. struselipg along with very light and battling
49, hat AZ day ht of the morning of the 18Th the
VIZ VIZ, "a crawn to the south southwest, become
Sssfv and threatened to become gale. L was
ga hearty half an hour before observed anything
NJ vhE uater,' and then presumed it to be made
- .ebool or rather shoa OF proposes, but wishing
- No eertsin, l orcered the mate. as IL was seven
iIIs 10 turn all hands, square IN the yards and send
m ne port Sudden sails. IL being my breakfast
hour. urged the man TO keep both eyes open, and
ssue down but before reached the deck, my asten.
tion was called TO the sudden and vehement cry of
OuSstu Vanjan.e Marquesin Islander, :" Look
Iook Ne see Too much. Too much" All eyes
where be was looking, and then all eyes turned 10
ne lee quarter Just had time to see black skin
vhen 1t disappeared. The naive was excited, ana
n ftply to my questions, SAID, = NO whaie. 20
s.uch--to biR-tO Longtime no see all same DAT Iei-
ssrue frar6" Not being able 70 tell which way the
,sn,ns, or nsh was bound, offed and came aback,
ordering the lines IN the boats and the crews 20 ano
81 Tne horizon was scanned IN every direction
o., nearly an hour, when giving up all hopes l
hrsced fof ward and went below. The native con-
tnucd to look with eagerness, pushed on by the 3D.
- M
an oothipx but he proved the truth OF his sight IN
lev minutes by utteTiDg another cry, and win
mare yehemence than the frat. rushed on deck,
and the rst look not mile 70 lee waIo, rested On
n vas apparently still, but soo5ng' up ana 90 W. as
va saw OF sperm whales knew II was not whale.
The head could not see, but the body had motion
Ike the waving Of rope, when shaken ana neia In
shs hand Every eye In the ship regarded 1t atten-
tively ard not word was spoken or sound usefeo.
In 4 few minutes the whole length oil the Dooy rose
ana Law on the water, twas OF an enormous ieng'n'
Presently the exu entity or ta moved OK vioIa.eu,
ssitatipe the water and then the head rose ennrey
sboye the water, and moved sideways slowly ASH
the monster wasin agony or suiiocating. rosa
EYppSNT, /" l exclaimed, " stand by the Doats IheIe
was nesitapcy and the mate said" vi whas ese
4 there lowering for him we only lose time ana
sain nothing, besides" l abruptly checked hm ana
ordered eli hands called aft. When they mad mus,
tered told them l wished to try tnat IeaowTi
uyeed them with all the eloquence possessed tell
ins them there was but few who believed in the OK
sencs Of the sea-serpent, and taat wish had been
erpressed that whale ship might fall In with one
OF ihem-that If We did not attack him, and should
ssll Of seeing him when we got home, we would be
laughed at and derided-and the very first question
would DO, " Why didn't you try him" told them
our couIa age was at stake-Our manhood, and even
and concluded by appealing to their cupidity-hold-
ing out that We might possibly get him into some
southern port.
Do not order one you TO 90 in the boats said,
kk-xvN
even American the ship stepped out at once, fol-
lowed BY ali but one native and two Engshmen.
! ordered the boats.eereIs and officers to examine
and that everything In and about the boats was
70 perfect order had already jumped into my boat
when the Serpent began to move quite rapidly, and
h was necessary to stand after him. The wind was
piping up strongly, but as we gained l continued to
cary all sail, hoping TO be able to lower before the
xsls rendered 1t impossible. The Serpent worked
70 windward which compelled me to haul on the
wind, and soon after i carried away my foretop
gsllsnt mast this was most unlucky for us, and
what was still worse we lost signt Of the monster
We repaired damages with all possible dispatch and
still kept on the wind hoping to see his snakeshp
In less than an hour We saw him again, but some
ways 70 Windwsrd coon ascertaining that he partly
turned and was headed bait our beam, put the ship
about on the other tack. The wind hal increased
% much that was obliged to put single reaf in
The fore and miZZen top sails. The Serpent disap-
peaYed for a few minutes ag ain, but when he rose
Be was mile aheat of the snip and going slowly to
leeward, having made compete circuit.
l frankly admit my hopes were feeble of ever
really capturing him, and the gale made me hesitate
about lowering, but the time arrived, the Serpent
vas still and we nearly half mile to windward.
come to with the ead yards aback TO have better
control of all the ship, and tod the ship keeper 10
kstp close 20 US, and by no means to lose sight OF
" for an instsnt. We lowered, myself taking the
lead, and In few strokes-the wind and sea carry
ing us to leeward-I told the beat steerer, James
Whitemore OF Vermont to stand uP'' with calm
and cool intrepidity he laid hold OF his iron,
(harpoop,, and, when / beckOned with move
nent OF my hald, quick az thought both oil his
weapons were buried to the socket IN the reoulsve
bcdy before US. shouted sferS,' but there was no
Visible motion OF bis snskeshp. shifted ends with
The boat steerer, and cleared away lance as quick
ne possible, reckoning them 70 pull up, that might
eeta lance when movement OF the body was visi-
be- and the head and tail OF the monster rushed as
Il were to touch the wound. The frghtulness OF
The head, IL approached the boat hlled the crew
with terror and three of them jumped overheard,
m:tncsively held out my lance ana Ms shs1p po.n1
churning Of the water around mel rose to the sur
face and caught glimpse OF the Writing body, and
was again struck and carried down partly lost my
consciousness under water, but recovered 1t when
rose again. in the bloody foam the Snake had disap
peared and shouted, Pick up the line" The third
mate Mr. Benson, caught blight of my line near the
emo and bent on his, which In an instant began to
Sosn a. rose TO the surface, and IN a few minutes
ali were picked up-one was severely bruised and
another insensibe, but he recovered, and both
third mates, and was taking the second mates,
when ordered the mate to bend on and give his
line to the ship. The Snake was sounding, and
cautioned tho officers not to hold on too hard for fear
Of drawing the irons. At first the line went out Ta-
tdiy, but decreased gradually, nevertheless was
obliged 10 get up a spare line out of the fore-h0ld
and oend On. For fear that the ship would by its
weight on the line draw the irons, put on several
civs and gave the line to the mate, when became
9auonMy. There was new out four boats lines,
- iefhoms in boat, and two thirds Of another line,
sWiesAons more-in all one thousand fath0ms, six
Sees U fathom thousand feet-better than one
M1 eAl an essAth, enormous depth, and the pres.
sGe asthat distance il inconceivable.
:, u was now blowing furiously, and scarcely dared
% cary sail enough to keep the ship up, the boat
peril and was obliged TO take the line to the
up ega'n and run the risk Of the irons drawing.
MADE NE end Of the line fast and took In oil sail bat
snoasn to keep her steady and waited in alarm the
SasAet rising, the parting OF the line, the irons
Snwing N4 p N wind began TO Shift which IA
soIeo us little at p. NJ IT, TO our great joy, be-
eaA 70 abaie
ST Ma sudden lull line taut The night
va beautiful, the sky clear, wind scarcely breath,