The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-01-14

Crushed In the Huge Claws of a Den
izen of the Deep That Seldom Comes
Near the Shore - Struggle to the
Death of the Coast of Nevfound-
land.
From the Scientific american.
Sea monsters and their doings are occa-
sionally given mention in newspaper para
graphs, and most of such accounts are
vouched for by this or that scientific man.
When Victor Hugo wrote in 1.-THE Toilers
Of the Sea- about the frightful monster
which clasped its clammy arms around the
diver, every one thought that the thing was
q mere fabrication. But it was not. The
monster described was almost identical with
! the octopus, or giant sqid.
So, too, men relate how, living 10 the deep
and silent caves of the sea, is huge lobster
resembling the smaller fish in structure, but
being very voracious. 1t is said that he
seldom comes near the shore, il ever, but
that enormous lobster shells are sometimes
| thrown up on land after violent storm.
Northern fishermen have heard of the mon
| ster. and have seen them shiver In the
cuddies OF their fishing smacks as some one
described the size and appearance of the
fish. How far the general impression Is
story told me by diver:
when the Anglo Sexon, ship laden with
| costly merchandise, ran into Chance Cove, on
| the Newfoundland coast. and sunk by striking
hidden reef, the government at once took
steps to have all that the unlucky ship con-
| tanned removed. There were over 100
| persons on board, but not so much as one,
If my memory serves me, escaped When
| the ship was lifted by heavy swell upon
the sharp ledge she hung there, as sailors
say, but with the rise OF the tide she was
lifted off the ledge and went down, head
first. into the deep water lying inside. There
| wasa passage from outside leading to
this deep water, 30 that fishes or
sea beasts might go in or out in quest of
| prey. There was no beach or strand, but
| upright, naked cliffs in the form of a semi
| circle rose around to hight Of about 300
feet. Giving back little on the top was a
light house.
ON THE BOTTOM.
"As soon as possible divers were brought
to the spot, but it was difficult to fiud it
smooth enough to 20 down. The first day
we got below we could do little but Law out
our plan of operations. The ship was on
her side, the stumps of the mests turned
toward land. had never gone down before
in water 50 far north, and the place was so
wild that was timid. Lines were attached
to our bodies, and the ends fastened in the
skitf above, 80 that if any diver pulled his
| line he was at once drawn to the surface.
We walked about the bottom and around
the ship with our feet weighted to keep us
from rising.
1.-THE water was pale green, and / could
notice objects quite plainly for many yards
| distant. There was a huge break in the
bottom of the ship; her stem was stovo in,
so was her stern. Already the fishes had
discovered that there was feasting inside,
for as | was about to enter by the hole in
the bow number of Spanish mackerel,
cod, sculpins aud dogfish began to founder
about inside moved back, for did not
know but there might be shark there.
There were, as you know, over a hun
dred bodies in the ship, 30 was anxious
that they should be saved from the desecra-
ton Of these fishes. Worst of all to get
among the bodies of the drowned are Span
| ish mackerel and cod. | had charge, so we
oil went to the top and made arrangements
for getting the dead. | shall not give you
the details, but after extremely hard work
two days saw our CHASTITY work completed.
MEETING THE MONSTER.
Then came the raising of the costly mer-
chandise. 1t was mostly silks and cashmere
| shawls. One afternoon while my two men
remained above repairing their diving ap>
paratus went down alone. We were now
| EeuONluk bu0 Odl5o bub dlDST
| ment Of the ship and had only one way to
enter or leave this compartment, VIZ: by
the break in the stern. The method of rails
| ing the goods was to lower down heavy
hooks which could be fastened into the bales
after they were pushed outside. Some
OF these bales or cases would
float and some would rest lightly
on the bottom. l had selected a large
case, which l was about to move,
| hnnnan{pn m fur I
| outside huge creature moving toward the
vessel. l had never seen anything like it
before Its body was to feet high aud
about twice that length, aud it had on each
side an enormous arm. There seemed to be
an unlimited number Of legs attached to
the hideous creature. Its color was dun
brown, notified over with dark spots. Two
round, black, shining eyes were in its fore-
head, and two supple horns, each resem-
bling an enormous whip, like wise came out
Of its head. All this l noticed with one
| glance. A numb terror seized me, and |
moved for the outlet from the ship.
"But as if knowing what intended this
brute, looking straight at me with It's
frightful eyes, walked. or rather crawled,
directly toward me. hurried in the hope
of being able to seize the hanging hook,
now my only means OF signaling the skiff
but 1t hurried, too, and had barely put my
foot upon gray rock outside when two
| writhing 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 was. The round,
frightful eyes seemed to burn through and
through me. In my hand held the crow
bar which used to loosen the cargo; In my
belt carried heavy sheath knife. These
were my only weapons.
IN THE CLUTCHES.
Suddenly and without any warning the
monster threw out one of his arms and
seized me below the shoulder. felt as if
my bones were being crushed and that my
arm would soon be severed from my body. No
sooner had he done this than he turned and
began to drag me into deeper corner of
the nook. The more resisted the more
terrible was the pain, so had to go, turning
over in my mind what should do. / still
| had the crowbar In my right hand, but it
was of no use TO me. SO lot it drop
"But the horror of that timel Well. 1
knew why the awful thing was dragging
me to this quiet place lie was going to
devour me.
"His arm terminated in a claw which
opened and shut. This horrible mouth-like
thing had rwo rows Of shining white teeth.
Several Of them were piercing my arm to
thu bone. Some distance above this mouth
like hand observed join, and then drew
my knife. But alas the heavy she'll 50
overlapped the fleshy tissue that l could not
iuiure my captor. Still he dragged me ona
.!Il. l.. Al -