Griggs courier., 1893-09-29
CAUGHT BY A BIG LOBSTER.

CAUGHT BY A BIG LOBSTER
Exciting Experience Of . Diver on tn
Coast Of Newfoundland.
Sailors are said to be superstitioua
and perhaps they are, yet who is the
land-lubber who has not read Jules
Verne or Victor Hugo's ''Toilers of the
Deep?' The monster described was
identical with the octopus, or giant
squid. Once in awhile newspapers con.
tain articles about sea monsters and
their doings. So, too, Newfoundland
men and men living on the coast OF
Maine report that living in the deep
and silent caves of the sea is a huge
lobster resembling the smaller fish in
structure. but very voracious. 1t is
said that he seldom comes near
the shore, but that enormous lob
ster shells are sometimes found
thrown upon land after gale. All
northern fishermen have heard of the
monster, and have seen them shiver
in the cuddles of their fishinp-smacks
as some one described the size and ap-
Pearance of the fish. Never having
seen it myself, do not know how far
the general impression is correct, but
have no doubt that it exists, and 1 will
relate the story as it was told me bv a
Newfoundland diver:
"When the Anglo-Saxon, a ship laden
with costly merchandise, as many will
remember, ran into Chance cove, on the
Newfoundland coast, striking a reef
and sinking, the government at once
took steps to have all that the unfortu-
nate vessel contained removed. There
were over q hundred persons on board,
but not single one escaped.
CAS- soon as possible divers were
brought to the spot, but it was diff
ticult to go down. The first day we
got below we could do little but Law
out the plan of operations. The ship
was on her side, the stumps of the
masts turned toward land. had never
dlved before in water so far north and
the place was SO wild that 1 was timid.
Lines were attached to our bodies and
the ends fastened in the skiff above, so
that if any diver pulled his line he was
at once drawn to the surface. We
walked around the bottom and around
the ship with our feet weighted to keep
us from rising. The water was a pale
green and could notice objects quite
plainly for many yards distant. There
was huge break in the bottom of the
ship, while her stem was STAYED in and
so was her stern.
Zone afternoon while my two men
remained above repairing their diving
apparatus ] went down alone. We
were now removing the bales from the
after compartment by the break in the
stern. The method of raising 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.
had selected large case which was
about to move when, happening to
turn my eyes, I saw outside huge
creature moving toward the vessel. (
had never seen anything like it bHfore.
Its body seemed to be several feet high
and about eight feet long and it had
on each side an enormous arm.
"There seemed to be an unlimited
number of legs attached to the hideous
beast. Its color was dull brown.
mottled over with dark spots. Two
round. shining black eyes were in its
forehead and two supple horns, each
resembling an enormous whip, like
wise came out of his head. Ali this l
noticed at one glance. A numb terror
seized me and involuntarily 1 moved
for the outlet from the ship. But. as
if knowing what l intended. this brute.
looking straight at me with its fright
full, motionless 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
had hardly put my foot upon
gray rock outside when the
two writhing horns of the detestab BILE
monster were twining about me and
again untwining. Then he would
touch me with these and sweep them
up and down, as if feeling what kind
of prey l was.
''In my hand I held crow bar. which
I used to loosen the cargo. In nv belt
I carried heavy sheath-knife. These
were the only weapons had. Sudden
ly and without any warning the mon
ster threw out one of it's arms and
seized me below the shoulder. 1 felt
as it my bones were being crushed.
The more 1 resisted the more terrible
was the pain. still had the crowbar
in my right hand. but it was of no use
to me. So 1 let it drop. The mon
sters arm terminated in a claw.
which opened and shut convulsiye-
ly. This horrible mouth-shaped thing
had two rows of shining white teeth. |
as seen often on the inside of the two
fingers of Holsters claw. Several of |
these were piercing my arm almost to
the bone. Some distance above the |
mouth-like hand I observed a joint, and
then drew my knife. Bul alas! the
heavy shell SO overlapped the feshy
tissue that I could not injure my captor.
''For the first time I saw those ter
eyes move and turn upon me. |
The whip-like arms again began to
move and curl about my body. His
head was now only about foot dis
tant from my body, and, drawing nv |
knife once more, plunged it into the |
eve near me. furninr tho h1,1o ,.c,,ra |