Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-06-16

The FABLED MONSTER REArPEARs-A MARVEL
LOUs APPARITION.

The FABLED MONSTER REArPEARs-A MARVEL
LOUs APPARITIoN.
From the Bombay Gazette, l7th ult.
STEAMSHIP HYDAsPEs, March -, 1876,
must tell you at once that | write on
one OF the most worn and commonplace
of sublects-the voyage of Peninsular and
Oriental steamer from Bombay to Alden.
But must ask you, before throwing this
letter into the waStepaper basket, to read
1t through carefully. liit be not published, e,
one OF the most extraordinary facts in this
worlds history may be absolutely lost and
IN the interest of truth, IN the interest |
may truly say of science, ask you to
make known what | now state. As a mis-
sionary have travelled over great part of
the world, but can safely aver that what
saw on Saturday, the 18th day of March,
was incOmparably the most marvellous
phenomenon that has ever met my eyes.
was reused from sleep every morning at
6 by the men washing and scraplng the
decks, and on Saturday was reused as usual.
| took my plate of broken biscuits to the
stern and sat there munchlng them and
looking at the sun rising. There was
thick bank Of clouds on the horizon. and as
the sun rose from the sea behind this dark
bank. great masses of cOlOr-red and blue
anu Ntl4Uh-lli ~ the NllD4t tApdISt OF SKY
and sea. | was looking at strange ruddy
blot OF red on the water right astern. when
| saw. apparently near the horizon, but in
the red blot, dark moving shadow. 1t
did not seem TO move with the other shad
ows on the sea. and this fixed my attention
TO 1t. Soon ! saw that it was steadily ap
preaching the vessel. | could distinguish
no form, only a dark shadow, but | made
out certainly that it was
ADVANCING TOWARDS Us At GREAT RATE.
Fifteen minutes must have passed when |
at last became able to distinguish the form Of
the advancing object. | cannot actually
describe my feelings on beh0lding the hide
Gus sight. Within few hundred feet of
the stern of our vessel. not now approaching
Us, but simply following steadily in our
wake, was this hideous thing \ great
mass Of what looked like tangled seaweed,
on which futile attempt at c0mblng had
been made. rose out Of the water. This
mass must have been twenty or thirty feet
in length and ten IN width, and a. it came
on 1t caused a wide ripple in the water that
showed that there must be a still great
er part below the surface. From the cen
ire Of this mass, raised Just clear above It
and facing the vessel, was a great black
head. The top was quite fiat, in shape not
unlike that OF a mOnstr0us toad. thick
fringe Of coarse, reddish hair hung over the
mouth, quite concealing it. But
THE EYES WE'RE TIE MOST AWFUL FART
Of this fearful thing They were placed far
apart, at either extremity of the fiat head,
distant from each other at least three feet.
The eyeballs were enormous; they must
have been four OF five inches IN diameter.
d. 81 rha.- ~
red, not blue, not red and blue they were
a bright. burning bright, copper hue they
panied our eyes-and in this We were all
agreed-as We looked at them. In the cen
tire of each eyeball. a mere speck, but yisI-
bic fIom its extreme brightness, was point
Of light. Of white light. 1t was impossible
to tell whether these points were or were
not material points of the eye or merely
caused by rejection, but they were clearly
defined, and seemed TO remain in the same
place. had been so absorbed in the pleas
ing pain of looking at the thing that | had
quite forgotten the other people on board.
and was reused by hearing Captain David
son step up on the stern by me, give one
look at the water, and then hurrledly 90
back. In q few minutes
EVERY PASSENGER WAS cR0wDING on TO TIE
STERN,
even the ladies appearing. though in IN
finished costume. Exclamations of the ex-
| tremest astonishment broke from all, and
then silence fell as the crowd stared at the
| hideous creature. The children at the first
| sight ran back below screaming and some
refused to come again on deck. though their
nurses AID ayahs, deslrous otilooking on IN
themselves. used all possible means 10 make
| them. Some, however, returned. curiosity
overcoming fear, but even these looked on
/ perpetual tremor of terror and held them
| selves ready at the first movement OF the
| thing to rush away. We all remained alb
/ sOrbed in the strange sight till the first
/ breakfast bell rang at $50. when we had
| perfOrce to hurry away and take our chance
| of bathing at that late hour. Up to this
time the thing had kept steadily in our
wake. its movement continuing absolutely
smooth and constant, and the specks oil
/ light in the glarlng eyes never changing a
hair breadth from their position. When
we went on deck-we were only few min
utes at breakiast-we found the thing still
following steadily in our wake. The child
ren had IN great measure got over their lear
and had made long line by joining hands,
and the whole lot of them would now crouch
down and then suddenly rise up, open
their mouths at the thing, and cry out al
it, No notice apparently being taken of this
they grew bolder, and at last their cries in
creased till they shrieked shrilly. Suddenly
the hideous creature seemed reused by these
cries.
| 1T RAISED ITS HEAD IN THE AIR, UTTERED
STRANGE BELOW,
and came forward at great pace toward
the ship. None of US could at first move
H. . I'D 20 har grrn W v
in size, Its eyeballs were more bufnlngly
bright the children fell on the deck cry
ing and some OF the women tainted. But
We who remained standing, suffering though
we were under intense terror. still coult
not. when we were at last able to move
retreat or take our eyes off the thing.
came swiftly up to the snip, always utter
ing the same peculiar cry or below. Wher
but few feet from the stern, it suddenly
turned and came up close on the port side
Here the side awnings had been put up Il
keep off the sun, but three of us rushed NJ
to the awning and quickly got it down tina
we might the better watch the thing. NJ
sooner was the thing level with us than i
raised itself with sudden movement hIgt
out of the water. till
ITS HEAD WAS THIRTY OR FORTY FEET ABOVE Us
1t still uttered the same peculiar cry O.
| below Under our intense curiosity "
} stood out on the bulwarks to follow it
movements. 1t opened great mouth, crle'
J out louder than before, and made thre
blows at the mainmast. The last of tines
} touched it. and caused the ship to swa
: violently, so that we were nearly cast Of
; into the water. When we again looked 70
the thing it was gone. There was no ripple
: no disturbance OF any kind in the water t
show where it had been. 1t was gone absO
lutely. We looked constantly for it durin
: the rest of the day. but not the slightes
: trace did we again discover.
/ A SKIPPER DETERMINED NOT TO De GuYEn
r And now let me state shortly why |. no
l over facile in writing, or fitted for the sut
, ject by knowledge. write this. At thin, Q
that same day. just as We were rising to re
turn on deck, the captain rose and asked u
to remain for few minutes. Then b
shortly referred to the strange sight We ha
seen that the day. laying stress on the iac
= however, that himself had not seen 1t, an
= went on: Now none of you can dout
G what YOU saw; but | advise you not to tai
Q about il. That was the sea serpent yo
| saw. Bot wouldn't talk about it if saw il
G Ii only leads to making people laugh, an
I the paptrs take it up and cut jokes on il
e and it won do you any good. and it woul
: not do NE any good. But then remember
= did not see it, so I've nothing to do wit
: this one But, if you take my advice, 20
{ won't talk about it. Punch took up on
sea serpent, and that captain never got owe
: it-neyer Remember, though, l didn
see this one.
. This account | may state has been rea
n | over by s1me of the passengers, and thel