Connecticut western news., 1886-11-03
BOARDED BY SERPENTS
(A SEA CAPTAINS sToRY.)

GA SEA CAPTAINS SToRY.)
 "Why 1t is that any statement from sea-faring men in regard to sea serpents is received with such incredulity I cannot understand, said Capt. Samuel Gray of the brig Hester ''The common sense of the public at large should teach them that there can be overgrown serpents as we'll as overgrown bears, lions, tigers, or elephants. When an explorer or traveller in tropical countries tells of meeting and killing serpent thirty or forty feet long and as large as mans body, 'the statement is taken as solemn truth. When xaa captain tells of see ing serpent of the same size on the waters off the same coast, people try to make out that he is either knave or liar. That serpents of all sizes take to the water in the warm seas and often voyages from island to island is fact no intelligent person ever disputes. Why, then, should the fact that some sailor caught sight of one of these ser pents en route be disputed2
 ''Some twenty years ago I made a vo5nsesin an English ship called the Lord Gray, from Liverpool to the Sunda Islands, which are situated in the Indian Ocean to the west of Australia. We called at several of the smaller islands before reaching Java, and it was while lying in roadstead between the islands of Baly and Lombok that saw a sight to open the eyes of even sailor. It had been a terribly dry season among the islands, and some of them had suffered great damage from forest fires. As we worked up to the passage from the south a heavy smoke hung in the heavens, kill ing off the breeze and turning monday into twilight. It was easy to see from the set of the smoke cloud that there was an extensive fire raging on the island of Baly. Our captain at first suspected at first that volcano was at work, but when we came to examine the ashes winch fell on our decks we con- concluded that it was bush fire. We had to come to anchor in the passage, which is not over ten miles wide, and after the first twenty-four hours the smoke drove down upon us so heavily that our throats and eyes were greatly irritated, while the heat was SO great that the men stripped off most of their clo thing. If there had been breath o1 wind we should have got out of the un- comfortable situation by running back to the south, but as it was not breath of air came to give us amoment's relief. At night there was such a glare on the western sky as made us conclude that the whole island of Baly was ablaze and being destroyed,
 'sAfter the first day we noticed that the fish began to feel the effects of the smoke. They jumped up all around u: as if suffocating, and some of them drove about the surface as if they were wound ! ed and in pain. A big bull whale nearly IS long as the ship drove through th' passage one forenoon from the north spouting like fire engine and swash ing his flukes about as if to strike a pur- suing enemy; and he ran so near us tha the swell he kicked up made the Lort Gray dance a jig long after he hae passed. The sharks were the only in habitants of the deep not affected. The, came about us as thick as flies, and coulc be seen rushing in every direction afte the frightened fish. About idforenool of the third day, while all the crew, ex cept what might be called an ancho watch, were below to seek relief iron the smoke, there was a sudden roy raised by the men on deck. We heart them shouting and clattering across tn deck, and directly,one of them cam down into the forecastle, while the othe made for the cabin. We in the fore castle had sprung up, believing the shil to have been attacked by pirates, bu our mate soon gave us to understand tha we had different enemy to deal with We had been boarded by serpents. H explained that the first he knew of thei presence was great commotion in tn waters around, evidently made by th sharks attacking the serpents. The lat ter had been driven off Baly by the fire and were crossing to Lombok, whic was still safe. They had boarde the ship at every poin
 and more than a dozen were o deck when the men rushed for shelte
 1.-The carpenter ascended the ladd'
 and raised the scuttle few inches { take good look, and he yelled rigl out in his fright. He said the deck seemed alive with serpents, which wei 1ncing up s.d down and across vii rch1h yeq vnl admit that sss& z5E< s