Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-08-05
BIG FISH WITH HANDS.
AN ENCOUNTER OFF HATTERAS
WITH MARINE MONSTERS.


an Adventure Along the Coast--Fisi,
That Refused to 30 Taken by Means of
Boathooks-one Is Finally Caught.
Capt. Gheen. of the schooner Abby Gheen,
saw strange things off Cape Hatteras on
his voyage to this port. lie does not claim
to have seen the sea serpent, but he did see
number Of monsters of the deep that put
all well credited sea stories in the shade.
The captain is n man whose veracity is not
doubted. The captain brought his vessel
from Rio de Janeiro, and it was when
twenty miles off Cape Iatteras that he ran
into a school Of sea monsters such us he
had never before seen.
The monsters were sighted by one Of the
crew. They were nearly hundred yards
ahead of the vessel and were apparently
rushing toward her. When first seen by
the sailors they thought the ship was run
ming into floating island, some of which
are often seen at sea- They soon changed
their minds. however, when they got closer
and saw "a school of big fish that no one on
board could recognize as having seen be
fore The school opened to let the ship
pass, and then at once closed in and fol
lowed her. They noated all around her
and greatly impeded her progress.
Although the vessel was going at Il speed
Of seven knots an hour, the monsters fol
lowed along in it's wake, and several more
daring ones seemed to clutch hold of the
vessels side and let themselves be carried
along After they had followed the boat
for several hours the crew began to grow
uneasy as to their safety, and called upon
the captain, who heretofore had not been
aware Of the chase.
SURROUNDED By THE MONSTERS.
He sent for his glass and going aft made
survey of the school, which he describes
us resembling n low, rocky island. He
said they were larger than the average
sized sharks, being about ten feet in
length and varying from the size of II
bucket to II tub in circumference. They
seemed to be running u race and were hay
ing great battle among themselves.
They had four long arms, on the ends of
which were claws that resembled the hands
of nm ape. Those arm like things extended
from each side of the body. Discovering
that they were new species of fish, he i'm
mediately communicated the fact to the
first mate with orders to try and capture
some of the strange monsters.
The mate gave orders to the crew, who
were more or less frightened but were
waiting the chance to ''skeer" the brutes
and when they were told of the captains
orders they nearly jumped out of their
shoes. The boat was searched for weapons
and soon the deck was covered with har-
poems, boat hooks, fish hooks and every
other kind of implement used in catching
fish.
The boat hooks were first used in their
attempt to catch the fish, but unsuccess
fully. The fish seemed TO know what was
needed Of them, and they used their
'hands" to protect themselves from being
caught. Groups Of two and three Of the
monsters would grab the rod of the boat
hook and pull it away. Eight of these
hooks were taken from the sailors. The
arms of the fish were about six feet long
said Capt Gheen,
FISH USE THEIR HANDS.
The sailors became alarmed, thinking
that some ill omen had caused the serpents
to follow the ship, and they thought they
were going to be lost. They told the cap
tain that they thought the ship would
never reach port. Some rushed to the fore
castle and others to the captains cabin in
their endelvors to escape from the supposed
"Jonahs"
BY this time the fish had become more
daring, and would swim alongside the boat
and grab the sail lemons and traces. At
last the captain became 50 eXasperated Mt
the men that he ordered them to cast the
lines which they use in catching drum and
sturgeon. This the crew reluctantly did.
The lines were bnited with huge pieces of
Goldfish and cast over the side. They were
handled by the fish the same us they han
died the boathook. They would grab the
line with their Glands" and try to tear
them apart, and il one was not successful
two or three would come To its aid.
"All the time we We're trying to capture
one of them, said the captain, they would
keep up yell that sounded like the bark
of "A coyote At last the men were success
full They had, indeed, caught one of the
fish, and they began to haul him in. When
the remaining fish saw their captured
brother they made great efforts To rescue
him They grabbed at him while the men
were hauling him up along the side of the
boat, and once or twice one of them sue.
ceeded in getting his claws over the fore
rail At last we had him on deck, and
such hilarious yell as the crew gave out
at that happy moment and the scene on
the deck is Undesirable.
A MONSTER CAPTURED.
"The captured monster 1oundered all
over the deck, but his maneuvers were
quickly stopped by the use of an ax; we
soon cut his head Off. In another hour we
had caught two more of the huge monsters,
but these must have been young ones, as
they were gseat deal smaller in size than
the rest, and probably did not know how
10 evade the hook.
"This was strange monster said Capt
Gheen. "The body was round and about
the size of small barrel, and the back
was covered with thick scales, resembling
the scales of II drumiish, while the belly re-
sembled the hide of n porpoise. The head
was about rs large as an ordinary sized
bucket, and was horrifying to gaze upon
The eyes were as large rs n dollar and
greenish in color. They made my blood
run cold when saw them,
1--WE all held n consultation and decided
20 have the fish cooked. One of them was
carefully cleaned and cut into huge chunks,
and ordered the cook to prepare it for
supper. thought that they would not be
flt To- eat and ordered the others thrown
overheard, which was done. But they
weren't i'm the water ten seconds before the
others, which were still following us, began
n battle over which should have the feast.
They grabbed them with their hands, and
in the battle number of others were
killed, and in their wild attempt to get
meal they chased after one of their dead
number. and they were lost from our view
IN u short time, and we continued our voy-
age unmolcsted.
But to go back 10 the eating of the fish.
Why, when the pot stew was served up no
one could tell il from a mess of boiled cod