The herald., 1894-09-02
CAPTURING A BIG OCTOPUS.
The Creature Wanted as a Pres
ent to an Aquarium.
He Was Tangled Up aud Caught in
Great Nets.
ChIoroform Used tn Stop the Monsters
Mighty Strugcies-ds Made
Grest Fight for
Freedom.

when the royal aquarium at Bombay
was established in competition with the
geological gardens, the prince OF Dwarsr,
who was the wealthiest native in West
ern India, subscribed sum amounting
to $4,000 in American money. The
subscription was for the capture and
maintenance and free exhibition OF O
whale. an octopus, man.eating shark
and swordfsh. For some time the
subscription was refused, as it was
deemed impossible to capture the speci-
mems, and later on the prince modi.
fed the conditions. He fitted out
an expedition on his own account
and presented the aquarium with q sum
OF money TO maintain his captures. A
small whale and swordfish were cap
tnred during the year 1868, and in the
spring of 1869 the American bark Lolita
Sayles, which had been wrecked on the
Laccadive isles and taken to Bombay
for repairs, was chartered to search for
and bring in the shark and the octopus.
The only arrangements made for the
care and convenience OF our captures
was to build 8 large water-tight box on
deck for the octopus and a big trough
for the shark. Prof. William Girdshaw,
OF the geological gardens, had charge Of
the fitting out. The bark was provided
with shark hooks, harpoons, lancss and
several small nets, and aside from a
crew OF 10 English and Americans she
had six supernumeraries in the persons
OF six native fishermen OF the Malabar
coast. Al of these natives we're familiar
with the habits of the man. eating shark,
and though none OF them had ever at
tempted the capture of an octapus, the
dreaded creature had more than once
given them scare.
Our hunting ground was the Gulf OF
Manar, which is the body OF water sep
arating the peninsula of Deccsn from
the island of Ceylon. The man-eating
shark ia to be found in every see, and
they were by no means novel sight
in the harbor of Bombay, but the &C.
topus must be searched for on the
reefs OF lone coast. When nature ere.
ated this horrid-looking, vindictivs OBJ
ject, che put in as an Offset that 1t
would make Its haunts where men would
not care to go. The octopus is hermit
and skulker, and unless driven from
its lair by a storm livea and dies where
it frat cav life. On the east coast OF
the peninsula is a reef. or series OF
reefs, running north and south dis.
lance OF 20 milss and having an average
width Of three miles. 1t was along that
reef we proposed to hunt for that which
no man had ever captured alive-a full
grown devilfsh.
GOT A POINTER.
We put in ct Colombo. in the isle OF
Ceylon, to get some further pointers
from the pearl divers and shell gatherers,
aud were fortunate enough to fall in
with little craft just in from the
reefs. She had been in the shell and
coral trade for three or four years. and
her captain gave us the bearings of
particular spot where a giant octopus
had been seen on several occasions.
When informed of our purpose to cap
ture full grown specimen, ne threw
up his hands in sstonishment and ex-
claimed:
You do not know what you have set
out to do. The smallest one on the reefs
would give you plenty of trouble, but if
you attack a large one he will surely
destroy two or three men and will have
to be cut to pieces and killed. On the
previous trip. while we we're off the
outer reef we saw a monster crawling
over the rocks at low tide with arms
fully Is feet long. His bulk was that of
rum cask, and he exhibited such
temper at finding rs anchored near his
haunt that we made all haste to get
away. Had he come near enough to
throw a couple OF those arms aboard, he
would have had no trouble in pulling
my little craft against the rocks and
holding her there till her planks were
beaten ia by collision"
The man had much else to say, and
the result was that our six fishermen
became frightened and had to be put
under lock and KEY to prevent them de-
sorting us. An effort was made to &C.
cure some OF the pearl divers and shell
gatherers, but while they we're willing to
assist in the capture OF any number Of
sharks, no sum we could offer them
would induce them to go along and ex-
pose themselves to the ferocity of the
devilfsh. Midway between the coast Of
Ceylon and the reefs, "a We finally got
away and headed for the latter, we
were becalmed for several hours, and
the craft had scarcely lost steerage way
when big shark put in an appearance.
We could not hope to find q larger
specimen, as he was estimated to be Is
feet long, and preparations we're at once
entered into for his capture. We got q
pork -bsited hook over the eide, and
aiter little maneuvering he bolted 1t
down and started off. The strength and
endurance of the monster astonished the
oldest sailors, and it was nearly an hour
before we had him ready to hoist ON
deck. We had TO get tive bowlines over
his head and every man in the chip to
lend hand before We could raise him,
and but for the tackles carried aioft we
should never have got him into his tank.
SHARK CHLoRoFoRNED.
Perhaps for the first time in the his
tory OF snesthetics chloroform wss APP
piled to the nose of msn-eating shark.
/ do not mean the noae either, but the
gills. The professor was ready with his
sponEes as soon a. he had the big fish
on deck, and after few fops OF his tail
the monster remained passive while We
got ropes and straps around him
and deposited him in the tank.
This receptacle was iron. 20 feet
long, 5 feet wide end deep, and once
in it the aharA bad no room to thrash
about. lie was pa. in natural position,
bsdded around with sesweed, and whom
he got over the effects OF the chloroform
he contented himself with opening and
closing HE jaws end uttering queer
sound, as II gasning for breath. The
idea of chloroforming q shark was =