Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1873-12-17
A MONSTER OF THE DEEP.

A MONSTER OF THE DEEP.
A Further account of the Battle with
the Gigantic Devil Fish which At
tackled a Boats Crew Off the Coast OF
NewfOund a nd-A VeritabJe Sea Ser
pent Sixty Feet in Length.
We take from the st. Johns New
foundland) correspondence of the To-
ronto Globe the following additional
particulars of the devil-fsh seen off the
coast of Newfoundland, short account
of which unpublished a few weeks ago:
All readers of Victor Hugo's "Toilers
of the Sea- will have vivid recollec
ton of his thrilling description Of
Gillett's combat with the devil-fsh, or
kraken of the ancient legends. A ma
jority of readers of that romance regard
this fish as pure creation of the
eminent writer's imagination, and never
suspect that it has a counterpart in
nature. Of course, all who have a
slight acquaintance with natural histo-
ry are aware that there are such things
as cuttle-fsh, or, as scientific men call
them, cephalopods, of considerable
dimensions, and possessed of for1nida-
BILE weapons. Most naturalists, however.
doubt or deny the existence of gigan-
tic species of cutie fish, having a body
thirty or forty feet III length, and arms
of corresponding size, regarding which
rumors are occasionally prevalent, as
in the case of the sea-serpent. Stories
are told OF such creatures having been
seen in tropical seas, and of their hav-
ing dragged ships under water by their
huge tenacles; but no one believ es
that they are to be found in these
colder latitudes. The appearance a
few days since of one of them, possess
ed of gigantic proportions, in one of
our bays, about nine miles from
St. Johns will, therefore, awaken
general interest, especially among
naturalists. I must premise that I
have been specially careful to verify
every statement am about to make,
and the fortunate circumstances Of OBJ
tanning possession of an arm of this
monster furnishes proof incontroverti-
BILE, not only of the reality of it's APP.
pearance, but also of it's vast bulk.
Now for our story of the devil-fsh.
STRUGGLE WITH THE MoNsTER-NARRow
ESCAPE.
On the tn Of October last, two
fishermen were out in small punt, off
Portugal Cove, in Conception Bay.
When near the eastern end Of Belle
Isle they observed some object floating
I on the surface of the water, which they
at first took to be large sail or por-
ton of wreck. Having rowed close
to it, one of the men struck it with a
! boat-hook, when suddenly the mass
became animated and put itself in
motion. From amid the folds huge
parrot-like beak, as large" they say,
cas- a six-gallon keg," reared itself,
and pair Of CHASTITY green eyes, star
ing and prominent, glared on the
terror-stricken men with al expression
OF the most intense ferocity. The beak
ly and suddenly, from around the
head, two arms of corpse like feshi-
ness darted out and began winding
} themselves round the boat, 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 terri
BILE beak and torn to pieces. But be-
fore the suckers with which the arms
, are furnished had closed with their
deadly grip, ore of the men seized a
+ tomahawk, which was fortunately at
hand, and severed both arms as they
e lay over the gunwale of the boat. This
t unexpected surgical operation seems
to lave struck terror into the monster,
{; for it Immediately elected an immense
quantity of inky fluid, which darkened
: the water for 200 or 800 yards, and
n moved off from the boat. The mer
, saw it for few minutes after, with its
!. tail out of the water, which they de
t clare to have. been ter. feet across. The
body they estimate to have been sixty
). feet in length and five feet in diameter
: As the occurrence took place in broad
: daylight, and the men were close tt
;, the creature, and observed it before
q they were alarmed, am inclined tt
9 believe their statement, more especial
IS ly as their estimate of it's enormous di
mansions is fully, lcorroborated by the
|, size Of the arms which they brough
ashore, as trophies III their boat.
q SIZE AND APPEARANCE OF THE AMPUTATEl
). .Isa lb,gsa 70 ARM
The men were ignorant of the i'm
e portance of their prize, and [ regret t.
: say that one of the arms was destroyed
or lost. [ am assured, however, by th,
= clergyman of the settlement, that it wa
: ten inches in diameter, and that tn
portion cut off was about six feet il
8 length. The other longer arm the.
j brought to St. Johns, but not befor
v six feet of it were destroyed. Thi
: portion has been carefulley examined
o by myself and Mr.. Alexander hurry
u =. G. S., our able geographical
surveyor, and after getting it photo
graphed we placed in our museum. I
measures nineteen feet, and is bu
three inches in circumference. It
e color is a pale pink. It is entlrel.
S cart1laginous. pliable and tough a
i leather, and almost as strong as steel
;. Toward the extremity it broadens GU
like an oar, and is there upwards of ST,
: inches in circumference, then it taper
+ to pretty fine point. This extrem4' :.
t for about two feet, is thickly covered
S with suckers, which diminish in siz
0 toward the point. The cluster a
: the extreme end numbers about seven
a ty suckers, some of them very small
n