Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1879-09-11


dozen men ssi. smoking and spinning yarns
Nzuv were the stories related that night
upon the Sound The conversation finally
turned ON sea-seTpentS and weather-bea-
Ten old sea DOG. who had spent most of his
life upon the water. declared his believe i'm
the existence Of such monsters. He spoke
frm experience, and didn't care 10 have
auv one doubt his word when he said that
Il had been his fortune 10 see these big
wxier snakes more than once. He first met
the serpent in the China Seas. That was
when me WAS little more than a bow
Again when ne WAS captain of the ship
Georges. a vessel which hailed from New
York and WAS finally condemned in a South
American port for unseaworihineSS, he ran
acrOsS the serpent ON the Pacific coast. The
laSa time the monster came under his notice
wss right here in the sound, ''and,' he
sand. n ne looked al his watch and calcu-
lated the steamers distance from New
York. II must have been at about this
SPOT" II Was in July Of last year-so the
old sea dogs story ran-and he was taking
New York Yacht around to Newport. AT
noon the sun poured down hot enough al
mos1 n open the seams Of the deck planks
There was three-knoi breeze blowing and
il was dead ahead. He had taken in his
tOpSsils-fOr he didn't believe i'm topSails
when heating to windward-and was max
ing himself - comfortable AS possible on
the uuSrTer deck. He had Spy-glaSS in
his hand. trying TO discover some familiar
sail Suddenly his eve caught a strange
movement in the water. Ii looked, half
mile distant, like huge bunch Of seaweed
in motion The Yacht was ON the starboard
tack and the curious object off the Starboard
how. The captain went forward with his
glass and looked As the yacht approached
nearer the object he saw that il was alive,
and knew from his pSs1 experiences that il
wAs n sea serpent The Yacht kept ON un-
M within q hundred wand of the monster,
when the serpent lifted its head for a mo-
menr- The head was an immense affair,
the sire Of n barrcl. Ii was shaped some
thing ike n hOrSeS Ii WAS visible for on
II one moment. The serpent blew some
thing like whale and then settled into the
water. only the back being visible. All
ahOard the Yacht were so excited that the
little vessel WAS close abord the monster be
fore they were aware Of H. The yacht
was thrown into the wind. but too late. She
struck the serpent square upon the back, al
though the shock was not heavy one.
The monster threw lis tail out Of water,
lAShed the waves Tor a moment, throwing
the spray high in the air, and then diSap-
pearrd The Yacht went about on the
other tack, and ten minutes later the mons
Ter again appeared right alongside, and not
twenty feet swsv. The thing was going at
the rste Of five knots an hour The head
and shoulders went by, and then came the
long. shiny looking body, as large round as
Ecod-siZed LOG. In a few minutes the
monster WAS out Of sight. The men on the
Yacht calculated that il must have been AT
leasz hundred feet long. This was the only
time the old sea-dog had ever seen a ser
peni i'm Long Island Sound. but that it was
genuine one he had no doubt whatever.
No oae else in the captains room had ever
seen the monster.
The captain Of the steamer listened for
a while 10 the stories in silence He pulled
his pipe c0mplscenIly and his eyes twink
led nleETily. Finally he Knocked the ashes
from his pipe, hitched his chair around in
way which was as much as 10 say ''It's
my turn now. and began 1t was IN the
night of the 25th of October five years ago.
I remember the date well. The weather
had been threatening all the afternoon, and
when we swung out from the pier. | knew
we were going 10 have nasty night of it.
We hadn't any more than got through the
Gate when the rain came down. 1t wasn't
hard, driving rain, but the fine, misty sort
Of stuff that generally comes with fog
The great fog banks rolled in from the sea
and shut out the land completely We
went along very slow and blowing our
whistle AT short intervals. The Sound
jus seemed alive with vessels. First tug
would blow right under our bow and then
some little fisherman would toot his horn
under our quarter. / don't think | ever
heard the horns and bells make such a fuss
before. Ii was Just about midnight, and
we had got out Of the crowd of vessels.
An occasional horn told us that some few
were still abroad, however. ! was in the
pilo1-house, peeTing out Of the window into
the darkness suddenly something white
lO0med Up right in front Of us. Ii was a
schooner and she was right in our path. ]
shouted and the pilots made the wheel
spin as II hever had turned before But it
was too late There was a shock We
struck the schooner amidships and cut her
10 the waters edge. Two or three men
run over the deck, and for an instant |
ea1gnf sight OF a woman. She was dressed
In white The light on the steamers side
shOne her. She gave an aCOnizing scream.
the vessel sank and all was over. The
whole thing had transpired almost as quick
as thought. We swung a boat or two into
the water, but the search was in vain. Not
a life was saved. The despair pictured in
thai wOmsn's face / shall never forget to
my diving day. Occasionally at night when
ON deck il is pictured vividly to my imagi-
nation Ii il singular, but it affected the
pil0t IN the same way. Just one year
AFTER the accident, al the same hour, the
piOlOt called me TO the wheel-house. He
was trembling ike a leaf. He had seen a
phantom vessel The steamer had struck
il IN lust the same manner, he had seen the
same men running over the deck and the
woman again appeared with her despairing
lace The captain stopped for a moment
and then went on: Il tried TO reason with
him. but IL was no nse, and for a week
after the occurrence he talked of the phan-
tom vessel and its ghOstly crew. Well, sir,
vii Won belive II on the secoud anniversa-
" Of the accident was called TO the wheel
house IN the same way. Again had the
pilot had the some experience On the
third Eear il was repeated and on the fourth
year The piOlO: could stand il no longer.
The phantom seemed TO bannt him and he
went off the line / never believed in it
much myself, continued the captain,
Il. Il -