Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1880-08-25
NO. 30.
Tho Sea-serpent.

In the north of Europe to this day the
| inhabitants believe in all sorts of queer and
dangerous an, FINALS living in the sea, and
! are 20 afraid of them that as soon as fish
ermen or SAILOR fancies he sees anything
strange-looking IN the water, he speeds
away from II and uever thinks of stopping
| to find OF what it Is, No wonder, then,
that their imaginstit us creates animals. The
inhabitants of Norway say that the
| fisherman when sailing far out st sea some
times find the water uddenly getting shall
low under the boats, md then they 1t once
think they are passing over sea-serpent:
Immediately they stop their boats, and
throw their nets, as THY know they are
likely to catch plenty of fish, especially
| cod and ling. They make great haste, be-
| cause they think that il the creature that
makes the water shallow beg ms To move,
| they will have to set their sah's, ply their
oars, and get out of the way as soon as
possible, else they would all be engufed,
as the movement Of the reptiles BODY
makes such a Whirlpool that no bat could
live in it. Such is the belief In this
| fabulous sea-serpent in Norway. some
| very ancient writers, the eScandinavians, de-
| clare this creature to be SIX hundred feet
long, with head like a horse, blach YES,
! and kind Of white mainI They saw 1t
is never met with anywhere but In the
deep ocean, that it suddenly rears up its
head. and the fishermen on seeing ii row
in the direction of the sun, as they saw the
monster cannot see them then All these
tales TIL very lately were believed to
be true. Now let US turn away from
these fables, and see what modern history
says of the sea-serpent. Both in Eng
land and the United States belief in this
reptile was quite popular. Some learned
people at Boston published some years ago
statement to the effect that one was seen
IN Boston Bay, that it had the shape of a
serpent, that it was very agile, and when
the sea was calm, and the weather hot, il
fioated on the surface now and then plung-
ing into the sea. and showing of its differ
ent proportions.
Regularly every year some account of
this fabulous animal used to be brought
home by ocean explorers. AT last, in the
year 1857, the question was forcibly
brought before the public by an English
seaman of noted ability. Then the scien-
tic journals and societies took up the sub
ject, and fought with pen and ink about it,
some declaring there was no such creature,
others stoutly maintained its existence A
noted seamen, Captain Harrington, pro-
fessed to have saw it distinctly. At the
time he seen it the ship was sailing swiftly,
and he could not measure Its dimensions;
but on rough calculation he deemed it to be
about two hundred feet in length. Its
color was sombre. covered with white
=, 4
statement, and the world hesitated doubt
full whether to believe 1t true, or to dis
credit it altogether. While in this state of
uncertainty about the reality of this pecu-
liar inhabitant of the sea, a Mr. Smith,
Sho was on board ship belonging to his
father, sailing to Moulmain, saw, in calm
weather, balancing itself on the waves,
what appeared to be an animal of immea-
surable length. He SAYS, with telescope
could perfectly discern an enormous head
and a neck of mons,rous size, covered with
name alternately appearing and disap-
pearing. 1t was seen by all the crew. /
was determined to make myself acquainted
with this sea-monster, which / believed
this 10 be. Ordering boat to be lowered,
with an officer and four men, and some
arms, and q few fathoms of rope, | bade
them -Jw towards the beast. | watched
the boat closely as we neared the animal,
which did not seem to be disturbed by its
approach. At length It got quite close to
the creatures head, and then the men ap-
peared to hesitate; at last | saw them un-
roll the rope, while this frightful-looking
animal continued to raise its head, and
unfold its enormous length. at last the
r..frt to he oIf
followed by this formidable appe arance. In
less than half an hour the animal was
hauled on board. While suspended
or floating, the animal seemed quite
supple, but it was so covered with marine
parasites of every species that good while
elapsed before we discovered that this ter
rible creature was neither more nor less than
monstrous algatse weed matted together,
and covered with all kinds of sea refuse),
upwards of one hundred feet long, and four
feet in diameter. Its head, at distance,
looked like the head of this long believed
in sea serpent, while the motion given to it
by the waves gave it the appearance of l'fe.
In a few days this curious alga began to get
dry and offensive, 50 it had to be thrown
overheard. Immediately after my arrival
in London | related my encounter with this
long famed terror of the ocean; and, sim
ultaneously, theDgdalus reported its en-
counter with the great serpent in nearly
the same parts, and | cannot doubt that it
was the floating wreck of the alga whose
history l have just relatad." Mr.. Smith
SAID that to tins day he would have remained
under the conviction that what he saw was
ea-serpent, had he not had the enter
prise to send out the boat, and so discover
what it really was.