The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-12-27
A SEA MONSTER.
DESCRIPTION OF GIGANTIC NEwFoUND
LAND CUTTLE-FISH.

which he gives SO thrilling description in
the Toiiers of the Sea, was but an infant in
comparison with the gigantic cutie. fish,
whose recent appearance in the waters of
Newfoundland is vouched for by cores
pondent of the Boston I'raceller, who
! 70. This verac ious writer does assert that
the facts he tells are ''not dream of the
fancy, but sober reality" and that he has
carefully verified every particular. I" Be-
Sides" he adds, " all doubt. is at an end,
| inasmuch as this monster has left behind,
very much against its will, two of its arms,
one of which, nineteen feet in length,
| have placed in our museum, after care
full examination, and after having it photo
graphed. This, however, is but portion
OF the arm, whose original length, as
shall show, was thirty five feet" This,
then is the story as he tells it:
"The circumstances under which this arm
was secured were very extraordinary. On
the 9th of October two fishermen belong
ing to Portugal Cove, one of whom is
named Theophilus Picot, were out in a
small punt, near the eastern end of Belle
Isle, Conception Bay. observing at a
short distance some object floating on the
surface Of the water, which they at first
took to be large sail, or a portion of a
wreck, they rowed close to it, and one OF
them struck it with his gait Suddenly
the mass became animated, and put itself
| in motion. From among the folds huge
beak, as large as six gallon key, reared
ITSELF and pair of CHASTITY green eyes,
staring and prominent, glared on the ter
ror-stricken men with an expression of the
most intense ferocity. The beak struck
the bottom of the boat violently, and sud
denly from around the head two arms OF
corpse-lke freshness darted out, and be-
gan winding themselves round the boat,
and encircling it in their livid folds. A
moment more and the boat would have
| been dragged beneath the waves, and the
unfortunate men would have been brought
within reach of the terrible beak and torn
to pieces. But before the suckers with
which the arms are furnished had closed
with their deadly grip, one of the men
seized a tomahawk which was fortunately
at hand, and severed both arms as they
lay over the gunwale of the boat. This
unexpected surgical operation seems to
have struck terror into the monster, for it
Immediately elected an immense quantity
of inky fluid, which darkened the water
for 200 or 300 yards, and moved off from
the boat. The men saw it for a few
minutes after, with its tail out of the
water, which they declare to have been ten
feet across. The body they estimate to
have been GO feet in length and ) feet in
diameter, or u in girth. As the occur
renee took place in broad daylight, and
the men were close to the creature and had
every opportunity of observing it before
they were alarmed, am inclined to place
implicit reliance upon their stateme Mt,
more especially as their account of its
enormous dimensions is fully corroborated
by the size Of the arms which they brought
ashore, as trophies, in their boat. The
men were ignorant of the Importance Of
their prize, and l regret to say that one OF
the arms was destroyed or lost. I am as
sured, however, by the clergyman of the
settlement that it was ten inches in diam
eter, and the portion cut off was about 81,
feet in length. The other longer arm they
brought to St. Johns, but not before 81,
feet of it were destroyed. The portion
which they produced measures nineteel
feet, and is but three inches and ahalf il
circumference. 1t is a pale pink in color
entirely cartilaginous, pliable and tough a.
leather, and almost as strong as STEEL
Toward the extremity it broadens out like
an oar, and is there upward Of six inches
in circumference; then it tapers to a pretty
fine point. This extremity, for about two
feet is thickly covered with suckers, which
diminish in size toward the point. The
cluster at the extreme end number abou
seventy suckers, some of them very small
sharp teeth, and a membrane stretched
across which can be drawn in at the will
of the animal, thus creating a vacuum
and causing the sharp, denticulated edges
of the disk to press against the skin Of thu
victim, and even to sink into the flesh
The force with which these suckers Cling
is very great, being equal to the weight O
the water that is above them, added t.
the weight of the atmosphere. Next t.
this mass of sucking cups come two row.
Of very large suckers, twenty four in mum
Der, each having membranous disk al
inch and quarter in diameter, with cir
cular aperture in the centre. A cone shap
ed mass of flesh fills this aperture, like
piston, capable of being drawn backward
be drawn in, thus greatly increasing thu
adhesive power, The edges of these suck
ers have no teeth, but consist of a firm
tleshy, cartilasinous ring. These large
powerful suckers are succeeded by secont
cluster of small ones similar to the frs
group, and having denticulated edges
They number about fifty. The remaiude
of the arm has about forty small sucker
distributed along its under surface, a
short distances, and also about the sam
number of little rounded postules which
have no opening. The whole number o
suckers on the under surface of the arm il
about $50. This surfa ce is fiat and tw,
inches in breadth; the upper one is round
ed and toward the extremity has small
membranous crest. The original length o
this arm must have been thirty-five feet
The men declare that they left ten feet o
it attached to the body of the fish, six fee
were destroyed ashore through carlessness
and nineteen feet remain and are now il
the museum.
The size Of the body, as estimated b.
the fisherman, was GO feet in length and L
feet in girth, with a tail fin-slaped and no
less than ten feet across. This statemen
may be reckoned by some an exageration
but to work such arms an enormous cen
trail mass would he requisite al
lad l.