New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-07-16
The Sen serpent.

jokers
The Sen serpent.
II believe in the great sea serpent" Uncon-
scousy uttered these words aloud, as stood
one night on the forecastIe of an American clip
| per- We had just escaped from the China Sea,
after sixteen days hammering against head gales,
| and were gently gliding into the Pacific under a
crowd of cotton canvass, which, in the full moon.
light almost panied the eye by its brightness. The
deck was crowded with strange motley mass of
! human beings, the prevailing type of humanity
/ being Chinese, for we had about six hundred
Ceestials on board, rushing to the Ell Dorado OF
| California.
The sailors were men of all nations, and vast
| variety of costume many of them wore red shirts,
| thereby relieving the monotonous blue cotton of
| John Chinaman. / had wandered forward, and
finding myself alone on the forecaste, had been
standing there, mayhap, half an hour, enjoying the
/ rare luxury of solitude and watching the por-
/ poises daTting backwards aud forwards across our
| bows, as the noble old ship rose to each long
| swell, and then made stately bow towards the
| low blue hillock, as it swept away from her
| It was mild, peaceful night, and doubly de-
lightfu after the pitching and tossing, the Jerking
aud grooming, we had undergone for a fortnight.
My thoughts naturally reverted to the mysterious
inhabitants of the element on the surface of which
we were loating.- What wonderful creatures
might at that very. moment be beneath our keel,
perhaps never requiring, possibly unable, to reach
| the surface Tie monsters which are revealed to
tves; the fantastic forms of fossil reptiles may be
outdOne by living creatures beneath as, and pos.
sibly in view Of those playful lcng-snouted por-
! poises beside me. Perhaps the sea-serpent; all
the sea-serpent. Imagination at once mounted on
/ stills; memory brought before me the various
/ accounts of its ppearance-accOuntss so numerous
so full in detail attested by many Witnesses and
i agreeing in the main so thoroughly with each other
/ that il seems impossible to discrediL them. The
\ objection raised by Professor Owen, that none Of
! its bones have been found. weighs little against
the positive evidence of the captain and officers Of
a British man-of-War. so lately as lS4S that they
passed within one hundred yards of a snake which
they estimated to show sixty feet of its body above
the water, and to have probably forty feet more
/ underneath.
That sea snakes of small size do exist cannot be
/ questioned. A few miles of the coast of Borneo
| | have passed many hundreds of them on the sur
| face of the smooth sea, measuring about eighteen
inches or two feet in length, and of dark color,
| barred with yellow. | Tecollected what STAN
pede took place one night on board ship lying in
the Hooghly, opposite Calcutta, when the fore
| castle was taken charge of by six foot snake,
which had crawled up the chain cable and through
the hawsepipe.
Turning these matters over in my mind as stood
alone in the bows Of the ship, the words ] have
commenced this paper with Involuntary found
utterance 81 believe In the great sea-serpent.' -
so do I, sir y came back to me like an echo.
The voice came from near my feet, and, looking
closely at the place, found old salt cooled up
on the heel of the cathead but hidden from me
was quite character on board; singular in ap.
pearance and manner and rough and surly with
strangers, but improving on acquaintance. He
was thorough seaman, and had already proved
himself one of the most reliable men on board fol
any service requiring courage and judgment. 0uI
crew had found ncknames for each other, and
had learned to distinguish Irish Mike, Soldier
Harry and 0ne-eyed Sam. The old sailor beside
me was known by the sobriquet of Jack thu
Whaer. He spoke in such a marked and earues
tone that it reused my curiosity. why do yol
believe in the great sea-snake have you eve
seen him, Jake?"
/ 81 have, SIR said Jake.
The tone and look of the old man were lk
those WhereWith the ancient mariner chilled thu
blood Of the wedding guest. Not another wore
! passed for several minutes; Jake seemed in
reveTie, and for myself, was wondering whethe
3 the old man was mad, for / could not doubt hi
being thoroughly in earnest That voice and loo
could not have been assumed by the best acto
that ever wore buskin. After pause, durin
which. | lighted my pipe and sat down on tn
anchor-stoc l said :" Come, Jake, tell me al
n about it when did it happen, and where.n
Il :" never tell it now, sir, said he n" | can
If bear to be laughed at, and told that it was all do
rium and fever. For two years past, hav'r
even heard the name of the sea-serpent; thong
n day and night think of him, and shall while
y But Jake" said l. you need not fear that
. shall laugh at anything told in earnest and of
'' things in the world, should like yarn about til
sea-serpent."
lie Don't call ii yarn, SIR said Jake its to
e true and too horrible to be called yarn"
ID "Fok'se there, !" hailed the mate from the wal
a of the ship.
N gay, ay, sir answered my companion
to "Strike eight bells"
y As the eight measured strokes were given, az
" the. sweet, sharp sound filled the air, followed
the boatswains hoarse voice. felt that all ehant
I'd of hearing Jake's story for that night was owe
and strolled back to the poop, had my night
glass of grog, and turned in determined to find {
4. early opportunity of learning the old sailor
ct secret.
% a strange and menacing Ohange.of weather hi
y, taken place. The wind had died away, and Il
y ship pitched uneasily in heavy, confused swe
~ A heavy bank of clouds was rising in the sout
II Il west, illuminated every few moments by viz
nv flashes of lightning The barometer had be
~ gradually falling, and the men were engaged ia
I'M ing in the light sails. Fttul puts of wind sal
through the rigging, and the sails alternate
* thrashed back on the masts, and then tugged t,
'n ward, straining to their tackle like chained ien(
lac The main course was now reefed. aud the tops
4; brailed up sharp, looking ike row of great bla
III ders as it blew out from the yard. glanced
o o, windward and saw tue rapidly advancing bank
a. cloud was edged with white, where the conf
~ blast plowed up the sea i'll It's course.
g Send another hand to the wheel, MIR. Blow
shouted the captain. s. g5.,..a ...5a.
5as me words had scarcely left his lips when
OF gale struck up aud the ship keeled over
st the water rushed ia at the ports, and everythi
lys loose on the decks flew into the lee seuppers
y. haIyards of the upper top salyards were let
IL but while the yards were coming down, the 70
o0' sail tore adrift split into long streamers, VIII
i 1uttered out dipping and cracking like gigan
stdckwhips till they were borne off by the ga
var The ship righted aud gained way at the same n
ne ment, and we flew through the water with
his wind on our quarter.
the For eleven days aud nights the weather ne
srs moderated, and ran before the gale al teri
ing rate of speed crossing the North Pacific in as sh
red q time as it had ever been done by sailing yes
We There was but little chance of hearing Jake'a v
red during this time, but kept the mattern my mi
her and when at last the gale ceased, and we were
,tly longer rushing through the Dreaming foam !
uty sued by great, green mountains with threat ter
up- crests but calmly gliding toward the golden Ia
an got the old sailor to unhuTden his mind to
fol- and shall now try to give accurate version
bed his story, though cannot follow his exact wo
,om "'Ts eight years, sir said he, since ship
nds aboard the brig Mermaid, bound from Liverl
to the west coast of Arica, on palm-oil vOyt
She was poor craft, and we had bad set abe
of her. The skipper spent most of the time
ced was sober in t0rmentng the cabin boy, but a
was the poor lad was lost oVerboard-most OF
lul- thought he Jumped overheard to escape his
out rant-the captain was seldom off his sofa, wi
e%- he lay swigging rum and swearing at the st WI
oel. The mate had to navigate the brig, and he
efal such stupid, thick headed fellow, that it
IAN, little wonder we ran off our course, and made
And African coast little below Cape Blanco, and
helr to the northward of where We ought to have b.
Onr water had fallen very short, and the II
si"s coasted along for some miles till we found
hihi bay, and after considerable search, discOvert