Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-08-24

her IN shOal water 1t would have been
all right, but she was now taking us right
out, and as soon as we began to strike ne
sea way | saw that il she took fancy TO
go deeper we would go too. SO L
took out my knife and got little slack on
the painter, then passed little ait. we
hauled until there was enough for all
hands, then we gave way hard to see if we
couldn't take her alongside. reckon we
had given about four pulls when she got
mad and gave rush. We couldn't let go
quick enough, and down We went IN
heap; then l cut the rope and let her go,
convinced that six men could not tackle
turtle of that size unless they we're pre-
pared for it. If we had had harpoon
and plenty Of rope, or rifle, it might
have been different, but as it was she got
away from u.s."
"Well,'' said the sailor, as the Colonel
finished speaking, ''If it wasn't sea sar-
pint, It's the sea sarpinCs mate, and
that's next to it, and that's what saw"
The leatherback turtle is rarity,
though specimens are seen nearly every
season of the Atlantic coast, and little or
| nothing is known of their habits except
that they live on the high seas and have q
wide geographical range. Specimens
have been caught six feet long at Bahama
and on the Burmese coast. the largest
that l remember was observed by a rela-
tive, and, If am not mistaken, the turtle
was eight feet In length and weighed 2,4O0
pounds. This was captured near Nahant,
Mass, some years ago, and II my memory
does not fail me this was the largest specl-
men on record.
A fisherman related to me an account of
strange battle be witnessed between
this king of the turtles and large shark.
From the description / should judge the
latter to have been one of the most ferO-
cous of it's kind. 81 was drifting along
in my dory, fishing for cod" he said,
when | heard a big splash behind, and
looked around just in time to see the flip
per of big turtle come down on the
water. The next minute a man-ea alter as
large as my boat shot out OF the water
about two feet, aud l saw it had the turtle
by the other ripper; then they had it hot
aud heavy, and the way the water was
| tossed about was a caution. The shark
| seemed to have good grip, but either the
| flipper was tough, or something, for 1t
wouldn't give. In few moments they
| both came up together, and | saw that the
turtle had a death.grip on the man-eater,
and they're like a bulldog, just hold, till
they die, and then they thrashed and
wrestled for at least ten minutes.
| watched them till they sank. Which one
came out best l don't know. The shark
could only eat of the flippers, but If the
turtle got a good grip it probably held on
| for some time"
L have seen loggerhead and green tur-
ties in tropical waters which had suffered
| in this way, and In one case the turtle, a
| large one weighing at least 800 pounds,
had lost all four fiippers, having only short
stumps to swim with. TWAS in poor con-
ditlon, and would probably soon nave be-
| come loaded down with barnacles and,
! perhaps, starved to death. The sphargis,
| or leather turtle, had an ancestor whose
| remains have been found on the bottoms
of the ancient ocean that once covered
part of the interior of the continent, that
was a veritable giant. having a total
spread between The flippers Of seventeen
feet. Its name is Protostega, and it has a
peculiar interest to evolutionists. being in
popular sense a ''link." While these
turtles are large, the remains of one have
been found in India, land turtle, which,
when walking. must have resembled a
| small house. A restoration of shell in
| the British Museum measures ten feet in
| length, twenty-five feet in horizontal cir
cumterence, and fifteen feet in girth in a
vertical direction. Huge as this creature
| was it was only young one, being third
| less than the full grown adult, whose
shell would be over twelve feet in height.
The entire animal was twenty feet in
! length. and Its footprints were as large as
those of the rhinoceros of to-day. The
name of this wonder is Colossochelys
| Atlas.