, 1877-02-02
A Wonder Of III. Deep.


from tho Straits of Malarca. shortly
after the ancharr- e the vessel ni
shanghai. John n Webster. ;h. Master.
,aui James Anderson. the ship surgeon.
apIclrpl before Donald Spence. Acting
Law secretary IN Her En'anic MaIssiys
supreme Court. aud male aiii,laSit othc
following statements 81 fact,
We. John krillcr Webster. oi Liver
pool. aud Jamc- Anderson. surgeon. of
Liverpool. do ,olcmuly and sincerely de-
clare ~ follows: And. first. /. the said
John Keller Webster. in command Of
the steamship Ns.i,r. do declare that ON
Monday, the llih day Of September, at
1890 4. 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 a little forward Of the beam, on
the starboard side. about POO yards dis
tant from the ship, an object first point
ed out to me by my third officer, who re-
marked, There is q shoal.' Surprised
at finding a shoal in such a well-known
track, 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 90
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 a great
outcry, and about the same moment it
was deserted by three saloon passengers
and the surgeon. The shape of the crea-
ture-for that it was alive there is no
Doubt would compare to that of gi-
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 subsided,
until only foot or foot and a half re-
mained 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 neck. The body was about
forty-five or fifty feet in length, and of
an oval shape, perfectly smooth, but
there may have been slight ridge along
the spine. The back rose some five feet
above the surface. AnTimmense tail,
fully $50 feet in length, rose a few inches
above the water. This tail l saw dis
tinctly from its junction with the body
to the extremity it seemed cylindrical
with very slight taper, and 1 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
aInined it carefully at the above men,
toned distance, but could not satisfy
myself how the tail terminated. The
creature possessed no fins or paddles, as
far as could perceive, never having
seen any part of its belly. 1cannot say
if it had legs. 1t 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 eYi-
IDENTIFY under water, and we never caught
a glimpse of any but the extreme upper
parts. 1t appeared to me to progress by
means of an undulatory motion of the
tail in vertical plane. The tail seemed
to have an independent motion that is
to say quicker and a different one from
the body. The head would rise slowly
and the body become simultaneously
lower, and rice cersa. The undulations
of the tail we're brisker and very distinct
and I closely watched them through
good glasses. had for some momentl
the idea of running the creature down
but shortly dismissed the intention OF
account of the danger of breaking the
screw-blades. The creature showed nc
sign or fear. i cannot even say if it wal
conscious of our presence. 1t finally
dropped under our stern and passed owe
to the port side, somewhat slackeninl
its speed. Some time afterwards. how
ever, it increased its pace, and when las
seen was on our port beam at about onI
and half or two miles distance. Thl
creature formed q distinct wake, anC
seemed to exude an oily matter as h'
moved. And, secondly, /, the said Jas
Anderson, do solemnly and sincerely de
clare as follows, namely, that the shap'
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, wer
rather more definite, yellow (the pecu
liar yellow Of a salamander) alternating
with deep black. There were eight o
ten stripes on the back. / almostimme
diately said, " It is an enormous sala
mander," and the more I examined i
the more I was satisfied of the resem
blance. The back was much higher
some eight or ten feet at times, than th
head and tail. I was standing on tn
deck, and frem my position could no
I form any opinion Of its mode of progres
. sion. 1t was apparently Of a gelatinou
} Il. 6. habby) substance. Though keer
/ ing up with us its movements SCENE
: lethargic. saw no eyes or fms, and al
- L - l.