The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-07-07
Strange Noise at Sea.

DIR. Denneby, Il surgeon on board
the English royal mail steamer SHAH
non, sends to us the following account
of a curious phenomenon i'll the har-
Dor of Grey Town, in Central Amer
lea: In this town there are no bel
fries or factories of any kind. Owing
TO shallow bar, vessels cannot enter
the harboT CT river, and are Therefore
obliged to anGhor in from seven to
eight fathoms of water, about two
miles from the beach, the bottom con-
sisting of heavy dark sand and mud
containing much vegetable matter
brought down by tie river. Now,
while at anchor in this situation, we
hear, commencing with marvellous
punetuality at about midnight, pc
culiar meiallie yibratory sound, of
sufficient loudDess TO awaken great
majority of the ships crew, however
tired they may be after hard days
work. This sound continues for about
two hours, with but one or two very
short intervals. il was first noticed
some few years ago in the iron-built
vessels Wye, Tyne, Elder, and Dan
nbe IL has never been heard on
board the cOpper-wooden vessels,
Trent, Thames, lamar or SOlent.-
These were the steamers formerly
employed on the branch of the Royal
Mail Steamship Company's intercOlO-
NAL service, and when any of their
officers or crew told of the wonderful
music heard on board at Grey Town,
it was generally treated as "a yarn,"
or hoax. Well, for the last two years
the c0mpany's large transatlantic
ships have called at Grey Town, and
remained there on such occasions for
from five To six days. We have thus
all had ample opportunity of hearing
for ourselves. When first heard 10y
the negro sailors they were more
frightened than astOnished, and they
at once gave way 10 superstitiOus fears
of ghosts and Obeism.
BY English sailors it was considered
10 be caused by the trumpet-fish, or
what they called such certainly not
the GeRtFiScus sc9IOpdr, which does
not even exist here[ They invented
a fish to account for il. But if caused
by any kind of fish, why only at one
place, and why only at certain hours
of the night2- Everything on board
is as still from two to four as from
twelve to two o'clock, yet the sound
is heard between twelve and two, but
not between two and four. The ship
is undoubtedly one of the principal
Instruments in its production. She
is, in fact, for the time being, convert
ed into great musical sounding
board. It is by no means easy to de-
scribe this sound, and each listener
gives a somewhat different account of
it. 1t is musical, metallic, with
certain cadence, and one-twO-three
time tendency of beat. 1t is heard
most distinctly over open hatchways,
over the engine-roOm, through the
coal-shute, and close round the out
side of the ship. 1t cannot be fixed
at any one place, always appearing to
reaede from the observer. On apply
ing the ear to the side of an open
bunder, one falGies that it is proceed
ing from the very bottom of the hold.
Very different were the comparisons
made by the different listeners. The
blowing of conch shell by fishermen
at distance, a shell held to the ear,
an Heolian harp, the whir or buzzing
sound of wheel machinery in rapid
liiC hlOAeAOAOAA Va - Ad4 I'LL
when the first and louder part of the
sound has ceased, the echo of chimes
in the belfry, thet ricocheting of
stone on ice, the wind blowing over
telegraph-wires, have all been assign-
ed as bearing a more or less close re-
semblance; il is louder on the second
than the first, and reaches its acme on
the third night; calm weather and
smooth water favor its development.
The rippling of the water alongside,
and the breaking of the surf on the
shore are quite distinct from it. What
is, then, this nOctural music? Is it
the result of a molecular change or
vibration iH the iron acted on by
some galyalic agent peculiar to Grey
Town +? for bear in mind that it Is
heard nowhere else, not at Colon,
some two hundred and fifty miles dis
tant on the same coast, not at Porto
Bello, Carthagena, or st. Martha. The
inhabitants on the shore know Moth
ing oft Fes f.