The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-02-02
A Wonder Of the Deep.

lTOIu Uu6 OtrdltS VI MdldCCd. OnOrCly
after the anchoring of the vessel at
Shanghai, John X. Webster, the Master,
aud James Anderson, the ships surgeon,
appeared before Donald Spence, Acting
Law Secretary in Her Britanic Majesty
Supreme Court, and made affidavit to the
following statements of facts:
We, John Keller Webster, of Liver
pool, and James Anderson, surgeon, of
Liverpool, do solemnly and sincerely de-
clare as follows: And, first, L, the said
John Keller Webster, in command of
the steamship Nestor, do declare that on
Monday, the 18th day of September, at
1870 A. NJ, fifteen miles northwest of
North Sand Lighthouse, in the Malacca
Straits, the weather being fine and the
sea smooth, the air also perfectly clear,
L saw little forward of the beam, on
the starboard side, about 200 yards dis
tant from the ship, an object first point
ed out to me by my third officer, who re-
marked, There is shoal." Surprised
at finding a shoal in such well-known
track, 1 watched the object, and found
that it was in movement, keeping up the
same speed with the ship, and retaining
about the same distance as when first
seen. The speed of the ship was 81
knots. and the object was moving paral-
lei with us during six minutes. Just
after 1 observed it, the Chinese deck
hands discovered it and raised q great
cutlery, and about the same moment it
was deserted by three saloon passengers
ture-for that it was alive there is no
Doubt would compare to that of a gil
gantic frog Referring to the head and
body, as far as they were apparent above
the water-the head, of pale, yellowish
color, was about twelve feet in length.
and six feet of the crown was above the
water occasionally the head subsidized.
until only foot or foot and half re-
NAMED above the water. tried in vain
to make out the eyes and mouth the
mouth, however, may have been below
water. The head was Immediately con-
nected with the body, without any indi-
cation of a neck. The body was about
forty-fiye or fifty feet in length, and of
an oval shape, perfectly smooth. but
there may have been a slight ridge along
the spine. The back rose some five feet
above the surface. An immense tail.
fully $50 feet in length, rose few inches
above the water. This tail [ saw dis
tinctly from its junction with the body
to the extremity ; it seemed cylindrical
with a very slight taper, and l estimate
its diameter at four feet. The body and
tail were marked with alternate bands of
stripes, black and pale yellow in color.
The stripes were distinct to the very ex-
tremity of the tail cannot say whether
the tail terminated in fin or not. lex
amined it carefully at the above men,
toned distance, but could not satisfy
myself how the tail terminated. The
creature possessed no fins OF paddles, as
far as I could perceive, never having
seen any part of it's belly. l cannot say
if it had legs. It is very possible that
the creature was much broader and more
massive than the dimensions above Civ
en-, for the greater part of it was evil
IDENTIFY under water, and we never caught
glimpse of any but the extreme upper
parts. It appeared to me to progress by
means of an undulatory motion of the
tail in a vertical plane. The tail seemed
to have an independent motion that is
to say quicker and different one from
the body. The head would rise slowly
and the body become simultaneously
lower, and rice rersa. The undulations
OF the tail were brisker and very distinct,
and L closely watched them through
good glasses. L had for some moments
the idea of running the creature down,
but L shortly dismissed the intention on
account of the danger of breaking the
screw-blades. The creature showed no
cro /
conscious of our presence. 1t finally
dropped under our stern and passed over
to the port side, somewhat slackening
its speed. Some time afterwards. how
ever, it increased its pace, and when last
seen was on our port beam, at about one
and half or two miles distance. The
creature formed a distinct wake, and
seemed to exude an oily matter as he
moved. And, secondly, I, the said Jas.
Anderson, do solemnly and sincerely de-
clare as follows, namely, that the shape
and color of as much as was distinguish
able of the creature bore an almost ex-
act resemblance to the upper part of
salamander the stripes, however, were
rather more definite, yellow (the pecu-
liar yellow of salamander) alternating
with deep black. There were eight or
ten stripes on the back. almost imme-
diately said, 1T is an enormous sala
mander," and the more / examined it
the more l was satisfied of the resem-
blance. The back was much higher,
some eight or ten feet at times, than the
head and tail. i was standing on the
deck, and frsm my position / could not
form any opinion of Its mode of progress
sion. 1t was apparently of gelatinous
u. e. fiabby) substance. Though keep