The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-10-16
THE DEVIL FISH:
One of Victor HugO's Sea Monsters De-
strOys n Vessel

One of Victor HugO's Sea Monsters DEE
strOys n Vessel.
The following strange story has been
communicated to the Indian papers by
James Floyd, late master of the schoon-
er Pearl : We had left Colombo in
the steamer Strathowen, had rounded
Gale, and were well in the bay, with
our course laid for Madras, steaming
over a calm and tranquil sea. About an
hour before sunset ON the 10th of May
we saw on our starboard beam, AMI about
two miles off, small schooner lying
becalmed. There was nothing in her
| appearance or position to excite remark,
but as we came up with her lazily ex-
amined her with my binocular, and
then noticed between US, but nearer her,
a long, low, swelling object lying on
the sea, which from its color and shape
I took to be bank of sea-weed. AS 7
watched, the mass, hitherto at rest on
| the quiet sea, was set in motion. 1t
struck the schooner, which vis1bly
reeled and then righted. Immediately
| afterwards the masts swayed sideways,
and with my glass l could clearly dis
cern the enormous mass and the hull of
| the schooner coalescing-I can think of
no other term. Judging from their
exclsmations the other gazers must have
| witnessed the same appearance. Al
most Immediately after the collision and
| coalescence the schoOner's mast swayed
| towards us, lower and lower the YES
sci was on her beam-erds, lay there a
few seconds, and disappeared, the
masts righting as she sank, and the
main exhibiting O reversed ensign
struggling towards its peak. A cry of
horror rose from the lookers-on, and, as
if by instinct, our ships head was at
once turned towards the scene, which
was now marked by the forms of those
battling for life-the sole survivors of
the pretty little schooner which only
twenty minutes before f0ated bravely
on the smooth sea. As soon as the poor
fellows were able to tell their story they
astounded us with the assertion that
their vessel had been submerged by a
gigantic cuttle-fsh or calamary, the an
imal which, in smaller form, attracts so
much attention in the Brighton aquari-
um as the octopus. Each narrator had
his version of the story, but in the main
all the narratives tailed so remarkably
as to leave no doubt of the fact. AS
soon as he was at leisure, ! prevailed on
the skipper to give me his written ac-
count of the disaster, and have now
much pleasure in sending you copy of
his narrative:
81 was lately the skipper of the
Pearl schooner, $50 tons, as tight lit
tie craft as ever sailed the seas, with a
crew of six men. We were bound from
the Mauritius for Rangoon in ballast,
to return with paddy, and had put in at
Gale for water. Three days out we
fell becalmed in the bay latitude deg.
so min. north, longitude 81 deg. min.
east). On the 10th of May, about
P. M.-eight bells know had gone
we sighted two.masted screw on our
port quarter, about five or six miles off.
Very sooD after, as we lay motionless, a
great mass rose slowly out of the sea
about half a mile off on our larboard
side, and remained spread out, as it
were, and stationary: it looked like the
back of huge whale, but it sloped
less, and was of brownish color; even
at that distance it seemed much longer
than our craft, and it seemed to be bask-
ing in the sun.
What's that p 1 sung out to the
mate.
"'BIest if I knows; barring its size,
color, and shape, it might be a whale,
replied Tom Scott.
"'It amt the sea sarpent, said one
of the crew, for he's too round for that
ere crittur.'
"I went into the cabin for my rifle,
and as I was preparing to fire Bill Oar
ling, a Newfoundlander, came on deck,
and, looking at the monster, exclaimed,
putting up his hand, Have a care, mas
ter; that ere is a squid, and will cap
size us if You hurt him.
"SmiliDg at the idea, | let fy and hit
him, and with that he shook; there was
great ripple all around him, and be
began to move.
"'Out with all your axes and knives,
shouted Bill, and cut at any part of him
that comes aboard look alive, and lord
help usp
"Not aware of the danger, and never
having seen or heard of such a monster,
gave no orders, and it was no use
touching the helm or ropes to get ont
of the way. By this time three of the
crew, Bill included, had found axes,
and one a rusty cutlass, and all were
looking over the ships side at the ad-
vancing monster. We could now see
huge oblong mass moving by jerks just
under the surface of the water, and an
SuOIlnOL6 t4dIA 4OllO"1nR5 b11S ODISuB
body was at least half the size OF our
vessel in length and just as thick the
wake or train might have been one hun
dred feet long.
''In the time that have taken to
write this the brute struck us, and the
ship quivered under the thud; in an
other moment monstrous arms like trees
seized the vessel and she heeled over;
in another second the monster was
aboard, squeezed in between the two
masts, Bill screaming, Slash for your
lives;' but all our slashing was of no
avail, for the brute, holding on by his
arms, slipped his vast body overheard, |
and pulled the vessel down with him on
her beam ends; we were thrswn into
the water at once, and just as I went |
over caught sight of one of the crew, |
either Bill or Tom Fielding, squashed |
up etween the masts and one of those |
awful arms; for few seconds our ship |
lay on her beam-ends, then filled and |
went down another of the crew must |
have been sucked down, for you only
picked up five; the rest you know. I
A.II L. l.