The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-12

No said Capt J. A. CrOssman OF
SCUM portland iast evening, according
10 the Portland Press we didnt en-
counter the sea serpent, but We had .
strange experience with a whale, and
lOn believe anybody ever had the ike
Z before. I've been AT sea, man and boy,
since 1 was 9 years old, and / never saw
the ike OF the whale We encountered. /
never saw a whale that didn't blow, bu;
roar that was awful
1t sounded Ike the lions in Central
park, New YORK. said Miss Houston,
VINO was one Of the party that had the
strange encounter.
1t certainly was more ike the roar Of
non than anything else can think OF,
salq capt Crossinan-
The schooner Grace Webster, Capt.
Crossman. was on her way from New Ork
70 Portland with Az tons OF coal be
sides the captain and crew, Mrs. Cross
man, her daughter, and Miss Houston
were On board.
The schooner was about ten miles of
Wood Island and maluug good headway
under iul san. the mate, Merrill Cross
man, at the wheel, when there was SUE
den commotiOn ahead. and then a great
level with the deck.
One Of the crew first sighted the strange
creature and called Capt. CrOssman, and
In q moment all on board but the man az
the wheel were looking at tile strange
sight Ihey saw before them an enOr-
NOUS head, one mass of great punches,
through which the WicEeu-lOOking eyes
OF the creature cleaned. They expected
the whale if such, would blow but il
old not then or after. once narrow thread
of water was sent into the air As they
looked at the creature il roared savage
~, and then drew close up to the side of
the schooner, giving them ample time to
observe the head, and all agree that il
was very broad; that il tapered almost to
point and that it was not very thick
through the thickest part. The creature
was ABOUT seventy-iive TO eighty feet in
length and had very broad tail, very
different from that of an ordinary whale.
In fact, al the time there We're three or
four whales in sight, and they had no diff
Guilty in noting the points or difference
between them and the stranger.
Inc great creature went down head first
and then made a series of attempts TO
strike the side of the schooner with its
tail. 1t did not succeed, and swan around
them, roaring loudly in evident anger.
Then 1t went down and under the schoon-
Capt. Crossman, who had watched for
this movement, gave orders to be ready
TO lower the boat, fearing that the whale
might come up under them and break them
were not forced to lower their boat as
il proved later to be leaking, and would
not have carried half their number safely
to land.
For more than an hour the whale con
tinued mis- remarka BILE acrobatic perform
ance standing on his head with his tail
waving in the air most of the time. 1t
seemed bent on hitting the schooner, and
II took the best of good Steamship to
prevent an encounter.
AT last the whale seemed to get tired
of what had been fun at first, and it head
ed Tor the westward.
Capt. CrOssman is Of the opinion that
this strange whale must have been mis-
taken for sea serpent not once but many
times. Seen but a short distance off, the
head would look more like that of a great
serpent than of a whale
The creature, while making its long and
repeated attempts to hit the schooner.
continued its roaring when above water.
1t would scrape against the sides of the
schooner, and then would draw off seem
to be calculating the distance, and then
strike. The schooner was kept off at the
right moment, and the creature missed
the vessel every time. 1t was an odd eX-
perence, and for a time there was some
| thing resembling a panic, the women be-
ing badly frightened.
Miss Houston said last evening that the
sight OF that great mass standing almost
upright in midOcean was something not
to be forgotten. Capt. Crossman is uncer-
tain whether the whale is a natural fight
er or whether it was frightened when ii
came up out of the water, and as a re-
suit of it's confusion made the repeated
| attempts it did to sink the schooner. One
| of the crew hit ii with a bolt and many
| times Capt. Crossman said he could have
| hit it with a board from the deck. He did
| not venture to do anything to still further
/ arouse its anger, and so let il go in peace.