The morning call., 1892-01-01
In A MONSTERS GRASP
A Divers Fight With 8 Deem
Sea Lobster,
Crushed by the Huge Claws of Denixen Of
the Deep That Seldom Comes Near
Shore

When the Anglo Saxon. ship laden
with costly merchandise, ran into Chance
love, on the Newfoundland coast. eui SANK
ny stflKlng hidden reef, the GoYerumpHt
at once look steps to have all tina he un-
lucky ship contained removed There were
over hundred persons on board. bat not so
much as one, if my memory serves me-
escaped. When the ship was lfe1 b.
heavy swell upon the sharp leGge she
hung there, as sailors say, but Win the
! rise OF the tide she was lifted off ledge
and went down, head first, into lie deep
water lying inside. There was a PASSAGE
from outside leading to this deep water, so
that fishes or sea beasts might go in or our
In quest of prey.
AS soon as possible divers were brought.
but 1t was difficult to find it smooth enough
togo down. The place was so wild thatI was
timid. Lines were attached to Our bodies
ana the ends fastened in the skif above, 80
that If any diver pulled his line be was 81
once drawn TO the surface. There Was
huge break in the bottom Of the ship, her
stem was stove in, so was her sierra. at
ready the fishes had discovered that there
was feasting inside, for as l was about g.
enter by the hole in the bow a number OF
Spanish mackerel, cod, seulpins al dogish
began to founder about inside. / moved
4
a shark there.
There were, as you know, over bun
dred bodies in the ship, so L was anxious
that they should be saved from the deseera-
ton of these fishes. Worst of al 20 get
among the, bodies Of the drowned are Spar
ish mackerel and cod. had charge. so We
ali went to the TOP and made ARA 3ssments
LOT getting the dead. | shall no give you
The details, but after extremely hard work
TWO gays saw our CHASTITY task col gle.ed
Then came the raising of the costly HIer-
enandise. 1t was mostly silks aud cash
mere shawis One afternoon white my TIVE
men remained above repairing th diving
apparatus | went down alone. &a aeTe
now removing the bales from the aftsr e0n1-
partment OF the ship and had onl} ne way
to enter or leave this compartment ameiy,
by the break in the stern. The Me5h9d Of
raising the goods was to lower dc Wn heavy
hooks which could be fastened into tie
bales after they were pushed outs lie. Some
OF these bales or cases would float md some
would rest lightly on the bottom. / had
selected large case, which | was about 70
move, when, happening to turn Hiy eyes, /
saw outside a huge creature moving toward
the vessel. ! had never seen anything Ike
it before. Its body was four TO FIVE feet
high and about twice that length, and it had
on each side an enormous arm, kheFe
seemed to be an unlimited number Of legs
attached to the hideous creature. It's coi0r
was dun brown, notified over lib dark
spots. Two round, black, shining aYes were
in It's forehead and two supple ht s, each
resembling an enormous whip, Likewise
came ont of its head. All this noticed
with one glance. A numb terror seized NE
and | moved for the outlet from the ship.
''But as if knowing what intended this
brute, looking straight at me with tss
frightful eyes, walked, or rather crawled,
directly toward me. | hurried in me hope
of being able to seize the hanging hook,
now my only means of signaling the skiff;
but it hurried, too, and | had barely pat my
foot upon gray rock outside when the two 7.
writing horns Of the detestable creature
were twining about me and again untWin-
ing Then he would touch me with these
and sweep them up and down, as Il feeling
what description of prey l was. Tae round.
frightful eyes seemed to burn through me-
In my hand l held the crowbar which
used to loosen the cargo; in NY belt |
carried heavy sheath knife. These we're
my only weapons.
Suddenly and without any warning tbs
monster threw out one of its arms and
seized me below the shoulder. l 1eit as II
my bones were being crushed and that nay
arm would soon be severed from T3y body.
No sooner had he done this than be turned
and began to drag me into deeper e0rRrT
OF the nook. The more / resisted the more
terrible was the pain, so l had to go, turn
ing over i'll my mind what l should do.
still had the crowbar in my right hand, bat
l.
i" But the horror of that timel well,
knew why the awful thing was dragging me
to this quiet place. He was going 70 deyouT
mel
His arm terminated in claw which
opened and shut This horrible mOuth-lik6
thing had two rows of shining white teeth.
Several of these were piercing my arm
to the bone. Some distance above this
mouth-hke hand observed joint, and then
Idrew my knife. But alasi the heavy she'll
kt,z 81,
not lnJure my caDtOr. Still he dragged ne
on, till at last the deepest part of the sea
nook was reached. There he stopped and
turned those terrifying eyes again upon me.
The whip-hke arms again began p move
and carl about my body, and a blae0ns
motion seemed to rnp through the body Of
the terrible fish. What this meant I knew.
His head was only about a foot distant
from my body, and drawing my knife again
plunged 1t into the eve nearest me. tarf-
ing the blade round and round l saw that
| mad destroyed the eye, for an iBky fluid
issued out of the socket, dirkeaiag the
water about its head. This checked she
aggressive movements Of tue thing. hut Cid
not seem to hurt it. | waited, waited for
many seconds, | think, and then rs head
turned. so | supposed, that it might ba en-
abled to see its prey. This was what
wanted, and with sure, swift thrust sent
my knife into his other eye, down TO the
heft This time 1t must have touched tse
brain, for the beast reeled, and tile gFp on
my arm slightly relaxed. But though totally
blind, my capt0r had no idea OF releasing.
me.
1.-The agony of my arm soon grew ua-
bearable and the waters around me seemed
to be filing with greeDish smoke. A
strange sound began to buzz in my ears, AMI
my pain seemed to disappear. / thought,
too that | saw other figures moyiBg ab81l
the ship; then the light went out % any
eyes and | remembered nothiag more.
"When | recovered my senses / WAS in
the skiff and learned how the divers.
alarmed at my long silence below, had CONF
down. They saw nay plight, and alter a
time succeeded in severing the arm from
the body of the fish, which they both de-
clared was the awful deep-sea lodstef. -