Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-12-17
THE DEVIL FISH.

Divers Struggle in the Hold of a
Sunken VesSel-One of the Monsters
Suckers Now Worn as a Watch Charm.
THAT'S an odd charm,'' said a reporter
TO a travelling companion on the New
York Central Railroad.
$50 il is, was the reply, ''and it has a
story" holding up curious oval object
IN which was set a.cOmpass. 1t formed
bowl about two inches in diameter,
and was OF a substance resembling fish
scales, but of a rich opal hue. The edges
were serrated, and within them had
been placed a compass. "If you didn't
know what it was" continued the
owner, you'd never guess; but NOT to
keep YOU in suspense, it's the sucker of
an octopus that attacked me once. If
you remember, about four years ago there
was rumor to the effect that valuable
pearl fisheries had been discovered on the
Alaskan coast; in fact, large iewelry
house in New York displayed some large
pearls that it was claimed came from that
locality. 1t fooled a good many, as it
turned out to be a dodge to start immi-
grafton, and il caught me for one. |
secured five men, good divers, and started
across the continent, and got there to
find that II was all a swindle. There
wasn't a pearl within two thousand
miles, and 70 get my money back / went
into the regular diving business, and after
raising several vessels, we squared up
and left.
lit was during one Of these trips that l
got my charm. We generally went
down in pairs, but this daY we were
working at a small smack that had sunk,
and l took the first spell down alone to see
what was the matter with her. She was
| lying in about forty feet of water, some of
her running gear atlOat showing where
| she was. We anchored our slOOp to it,
/ put out a mOOring, and in a few mo-
ments / was going slowly down. / sup
Y pose you can't imagine the sensation, but
! never saw a diver, young or old, that
I liked his business. To feet that you are
[ strapped to weights and going down to
depth where, if a blow should cut your
pipe, you would be anchored for good, isn't
pleasant to say the least.
I'm about i've minutes l reached the
deck, and as / wanted first to find out
what had hit her, 1 walked forward,
swinging myself round the shrOuds and
I ropes. l swung off, and l found that two
Of her planks had burst right out. She
was loaded with pig iron, and reckOned
I the seaway had jerked the bottom out of
| her. Having settled this l walked around
I her to the lee side. the bottom being
I hard, clean sand, and there l easily step
/ ped aboard and walked toward the hatch.
7 Ii was wide open. and as 1 stepped near
it l saw something that | took for a rope
/ hanging over the cOamings. Taking my
bOat-hOok l gavei it punch, and it seemed
10 fall off into the hatch. One of the MAIN
halyards was hanging clear, and, taking
il. / swung of and lowered myself into
the hold to see if the iron had been COW
cred with sand.
Down / went, my hook in one hand
/ and the halyard in the other, and when
near the bottom | let 90. In a second /
landed on soft, yielding mass that,
bound as | was, gave me sickenine SEN
satiOn. It moved from under me, and in
a moment / seemed to be surrounded by
the flying arms Of some hideOus creature.
They clasped my legs, wound around my
body and fastened about my helmet, grad
ually drawing me down and hOrrIfying
me so that for a moment l was utterly
I pOwerless. But at the first alarm | had
given the signal to draw me up,
and having a large knife fastened
at my waist, l attacked the mon
ster, cutting it anywhere that 1
could strike. In a moment the animal
/ had lifted itself so that its body rested
l against my chest, and it seemed to be
/ about as large as a flour barrel, with legs
| extending out from it like the legs of a
| spider. / hacked at it with the knife, my
/ armOr preventing it from biting or cutting
me, ana soon had the satisfaction of cut
/ dropped off, and l tore the remaining arms
| away. | was dragged to the surface with
/ part of il, however, clinging to me. Twas
l abo-t exhausted with the work and ner-
vOus prOstratiOn, and if they hadn't un-
/ screwed my helmet Immediately l should
! have dropped; but few minutes in fresh
J air revived me, and in that time / closed
my career as diver. l don't think a
million would have tempted me to go
1 down again.
And the charmE"
/ This charm, as l said, was one of the
! suckers that lined the arms, and had so
/ cut into the rubber part of my sleeve that
/ it had been torn from the animal in the
/ struggle, and as it was rich in color kept
/ it as a curiosity. When l reached the
surface the men hauled up half the Octo-
/ pus with boat hook. l tell you it was a
fearful sight. The arms, when stretched
/ out on opposite sides of the body, meas
| ured exactly twenty-seYen feet from tip
to tip. On their under sides were these
suckers, each one a shelley cup with
| saw-like edge. When the arm
/ is wound about a fish or other
animal, each of the suckers is pressed
against the flesh, the saw-edge cutting
| and holding it firmly, while pistOn-like
| arrangement eXhausts the air, and thus
! YOU are held by hundreds of air pumps,
while the body of the animal is drawn
| toward you and the mouth applied. The
latter was between the arms. There were
/ no teeth proper, their place being taken
| By pair of hard black bills, that were
almost fac Similes of a parrots bill,
| except that the lower jaw received the
/ upper. The tongue was armed with
teeth for the grinding up of prey.
''1Ou may be surprised to learn that in
| San Francisco the Italians and Chinese
/ eat OctOpi, and the octOpi fisheries are
! quite important. In all the fish markets
| they may be found hanging up. They at
tain length of fourteen feet"
as yours an isolated caseg' we asked.
'By no MEANS" was the reply. ''SOme
wears ago a Flathead Indian woman was
bathing with party of companions, who
finally left her in the water alone. All at
once she disappeared. A boat was sent
out and search made. and after a long
time one of the men saw the body at the
bottom, lying on some rocks. A man
dived down, but came up, saying that an
octopus had the woman, and so it
proved. The monster had seized and
pulled her down before she could utter a
cry. A long spear being secured, both
the animal and its prey were brought to
the surface together. The creature was
| almost as large as the one that attacked
/ me. The largest authentic specimen from
/ Alaska was seen by Mr.. Dali, of the
| Smithsonian. 1t had length OF sixteen
feet. and radial spread of twenty-eight
/ feet. The body was extremely small,
however, in proportion. l believe they
attain nearly the same size in the Medi-
terranean Sea-"