Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1890-08-28
MARINE MONSTERS.
THE STORY TOLD BY A VERA
CIOUS SEA CAPTAIN.

Captured.
Captain Gheen, of the Schooner Abby
Gheen, now lying at Bulson street wharf,
Camden, saw strange things off Cape
Hatteras on his voyage to this port. He
does not claim to have seen the sea-ser-
pent, but he did see number of mon
sters of the deep that put all well-cred-
tied sea stories in the shade The cap
tain is man whose veracity is not to be
doubted. The captain brought his YES
sci from Rio de Janiero, and it was when
twenty miles off Cape Hatteras that he
ran into school Of sea monsters such as
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 ap-
parently rushing toward her. When first
seen by the sailors they thought the ship
was running into floating island, some
OF which are often seen at sea. They
soon changed their minds, however,
when they got closer and saw school of
big fish that no one on board could recog-
nize as having seen before The school
opened to let the ship pass, and then at
once closed in and followed her. They
doated all around her and greatly i'm
peded her progress.
Although the vessel was going at a
speed of seven knots an hour, the mon
sters followed along in its 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 cap
tain, who heretofore had not been aware
of the chase.
He sent for his glass, and, going aft,
made survey of the school, which he
describes as resembling 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 bucket to a tub in circumference.
They seemed to be running race, and
were having great battle among them
selves.
They had four long arms, on the end
OF which were claws that resembled the
hands of an ape. These arm-like things
extended from each side of the body.
Discovering that they were new species
OF fish, he Immediately 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 wcap-
ho I.
harpoons, 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 be-
ing caught. Groops 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.
The sailors became alarmed, thinking
that some ill omen had caused the SER
penis to follow the ship, and they
thought they were going to be lost.
They told the captain that they thought
the ship would never reach port. Some
rushed to the forecastle and others to
the captains cabin in their cndeavors
to escape from the supposed Jonah
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 so exasper-
ated at the men that he ordered them to
cast the lines which they use in catching
drum and sturgeon. This the crew re-
luctantly did. The lines were baited
with huge pieces of Goldfish and cast over
the side. They were handled by the
fish the same as they handled the boat
hook They would grab the line with
their ''hands," and try to tear them
apart, and if one was not successful two
or three would come to his aid.
''All the time we were trying to cap
ture one of them" said the captain,
they would keep up yell that sounded
like the bark of coyote. AT last the
men were successful. 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
db Hill Wulit Vic Iicu WCic Aiul
up along the side of the boat, and once
or twice one of them succeeded in getting
his claws over the side of the fore rail-
At last we had him on deck, and such a
hilarious yell as the crew gave out at that
happy moment, and the scene on the deck
is indescribable.
The captured monster floundered all
over the deck, but his maneuvrcs were
quickly stopped by the use of an axe, we
soon cut his head off, In another hour
we had caught two more Of the huge
monsters, bat these must have been
young ones, as they were great deal
smaller in size than the rest, and prob
ably did not know how to evade the
hook"
''This was a strange monster" said
Captain Gheen. 1.-The body was round
and about the size of a small barrel, and
the bark was covered with thick scales,
resembling the scales of drumfish,
while the belly resembled the hide of {
porpoise. The head was about as large
as an ordinary sized bucket, and was
horrifying to gaze upon. The eyes were
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