The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1879-02-06
THAT SEA SERPENT
This Time IL II Seen by the Veracious Cap
tain ofthe sleop Jane EIiza,"in Long
Island sound. '.lsr


Island Sound. '.rar
A guileless New York reporter was
told the following sea serpent yarn by
Captain Daniel Dalton, Of the good ship
Jane Eliza: --1 .g
"Now, put it down just as I tell You"
the captain said. "The Jane Eliza
started from the foot Of Harrison street,
Brooklyn, on Jan. 2, 1879, loaded with
1000 bushels Of salt, consigned by J. P.
g. G.. O. Robinson to 8. E. MerwiD &
Son, New Haven. You will remember
it was the time when the big New Year
storm was blowing along the coast.
When we got along as far in the sound
as Greenwich point, near where Tweed's
club house used to, be, sailing under
close reefs Il was on deck, my son Frank
was at the helm, and my son William
was walking along the side, which left
Joe down below doing the cooking),
William sung out to me and says: = 4
g. "'Pop, anything sunk herep' ii,
"'No.' says I; but we're in deep
water here, and you wont touch it if
there is = ..a.ss.2Ga ~. -. r.a
"4'By George + says he, 'there's the
eea serpent. ...-'.......e .'
"That's Just as it was said. We were
heading east. southeast at the ,time,a and
he (the serpent) was healing west
southwest, toward Captain's island. We
had approached each other at an angle,
and our bow must have passed over his
tail" g':hn.r." rr'i'i.' 80 -''7.
"Did you feel any shock p, = 80 ,
"No, I don't think there was any
shock. The first noticed was when I
heard William sing ont, By George +
Then I saw ten feet Of big snake out
of water. he must have been not less
than fifty feet away at the time. It was
about minute. I Judge, that Frank
and William and I had to take obserya-
tions of him.. We called Joe, but he
couldn't leave his cooking in time to
get sight. Now, if you'll take down
the description. His head was just Like
that of snake. It Was fiat on top, and
a foot and half broad. In color
it was black, with green spots. The left
eye, which was the only one we could
see, stuck out Of its head like q frogs
eye" ...7~.
Chow large was it2" f.7
"About as big as decent-sized sau-
Ger. As he went along, he kind of
turned his head and kept his eye on US.
This was in broad daylight, at two
o'clock in the afternoon. The eye
showed angry, but he never turned on
US or showed fight. I could have put
a bullet through the eye as well as not,
or could have thrown harpoon into
his body, but I never carry firearms,
ard I'm not whaler, as ] used to be.
The head was about three feet long.
At least it began to taper down about
that distance from the tip Of the nose.
This smaller part continued for about
ten feet, and was held up entirely out
OF water. After that it began to swell
all at once until it was as large as a
barrel. We could see that about two
thirds OF this part was under water as
he kind of rolled in the waves, and one
third was out of water. We couldn't see
any of the rest OF him." .-
"How long to you think the serp ,nt
was ?" -.
swell, now, You guess, and I'll
guess, and I'll guess that he couldn't
have been less than thirty feet"
The reporter guessed twenty feet
more, Judging from the size Of the head
and body, and Capt. Dalton thought
that the serpent might we'll be fifty feet
feet long. He had put the length at
the smallest figure he could conscien.
tiously. ,a.-e
"In what way did he disappear ?"
was NEXT asked. ; s....r ,t..s.
"Well, after he had kept his eye on
us for about quarter OF minute, he
dipped his head into the water and went
down, (Capt. Dalton wriggled his nand
slowly toward the foor) with kind Of
easy, waving motion" d.
"And didn't his tail rise ont of water
when his head went DOWN."
"No, because he was snake"
"Why not, because he was a snake ?"
"Snakes, you must understand, have
no fins. They have to move themselves
with their tails, so that if their tails get
out of water they are lost. He had to
keep his tail under. If it had been a
shark or a porpoise, it would have
showed it's tail for certain. This is q
demonstration. I've seen lots of sharks
and porpoises and all kinds Of sea crea-
lures in my travels all over the globe,
and I know that this was q snake. And
then there's another thing. I've read
in the Sun that on Friday, August "a,
1877, serpant rose up out of the Sound
about twenty feet, and was bigger round
than barrel, at this very spot that is
near Captains island lighthouse. It
Kissed and roared. A few days afterward
Capt. Wicks, the two men at the wheel,
and others on the steamer Bridgeport
felt her hit something on her starboard
quarter. It shook, the whole boat.
William Gamble, the deck watchman,
heard something like hiss and bark,
and then something black rose up as
high as the fagpole and went down
again. That was just off Of Captains
island, too and last summer, just about
the same place, it was seen again by
somebody else." r.
Capt. Dalton drew a picture Of the
animal he had seen with the reporters
pencil. In constructing the eye he first
drew large round cipher and secured
it all black with the point OF the pencil.
His two stalwart sons, who constitute
his two mates and the crew, oorroborate
every word of their fathers story.