The evening times., 1896-09-01

KING OF ALL SEA sERPENTs
Terrible Monster Seen by a
Clippers Captain.
FIFTY MILES OF SNAKES
Thrilling Marine Spectacle Described
In the Private Log of the Tam
O'Shanter's Skipper-Duel Between
Alligator and Shark Broken UP by
Appearance of the Sea Serpent.
FIFTY MILES OF SNAKES

T-r-; ,-ii-.1i sss
New York, Sept. Nobody who has ever
looked into the frank blue eyes of The skip
per's artless little daughter, Claire Leonora
Frances Peabody, would dare to say that
she could indorse a sea yarn that wasn't
true, even though her father might spin IT,
Claire is six years old, plays the piano.
writes her own name with a flourish that
rnightastonish hanexpert peBnian, and knows
The names OF allthe sails on thesniart Yankee
clipper, Tam o. Shanter, or Portland, Me-,
which her father commands.
She has been four times around the Horn
and twice around the Cape or Good Hope,
but she never saw so many strange things,
that she can remember as she did on the
voyage from Hong Kong that the Tam o.
Shanter has Just finished at this port. The
skipper's wife corroborates his story, and
the mate and all the very able seanIen say
that the skipper never puts anything in his
log-his private log-that Is not as true as
the incident in which Capt. Jonah figured.
Anybody who thinks the sea serpeut is a
myth should read this, the slippers at
tested yarn, about it. Miss Claire AYERS
with emphasis thai She saw it, and myriad
OF what the skipper says appeared to be
its spawn on the morning OF May 2s. off
the coast of Borneo, in the Carirnala OK
Billion Passage, between the China and
Java seas. The wild man of BorBeo was
invisible, but the coast of the island was
plainly visible about five miles on the port
beam. The skipper wrote the next day,
while the marvellous incidents were still
fresh in his mind:
IN THE LOG BOOK.
IAN account of the sea serpent as seen
from the deck of the Tam O'shaDter."
He began his story thus:
CLARK Russell says. An old sailor once
said to me, ..lf were to write down one
quarter of what I've seen, heard and gone
through. the reader would tn row L way the
book. calling me all the. evil names he could
put his tongue to, afore he had read half
of what I'd wrote
Now, at the risk OF being doubted and
called evil names. am going to try TO de-
scribe a little incident that has happened
during our late passage in my ship from
Hong Kong TO New York. may add thai il
is only one OF many remarkable incidents,
as the landsman calls them, that have hap
pened during my thirtyfour years OF sea
life without fear or favor / shallnow pro
ceed to give the account Is enter red al the
time of its occurrence in nay private log
book:
May 20, IS96-At daylight the low
land OF Borneo in sight; ship exactly on the
equator, and in longitude 100 degrees OF
seconds east, noticed the water on port
side OF ship looked very muddy, while that
on the starboard, or off shore side. was
quite blue. On pulling up a bucket Of
water from either side of the ship We found
the blue water was, as we expected, quite
dark, while the muddy water on the port
side was as nearly fresh as water could he
under such conditions.
This fresh water had without doubt,
been driven so far off shore by one OF the
many estuaries OF the kapuas River, the
tides of which are very strong. especially
on the ebb, when the fresh water forces its
way for fully five miles off shore. and,
for some reason unexplained to me, refuses
to amalgarnate with the salt water.
SNAKES IN PROPULSION.
Large numbers OF sharks and all sorts
OF other fishes and snakes were on the blue
water side. Some OF the snakes were OF
immense size, while the smallest, which
came very close 10 the ship, were not less
than three feet long; they were OF all
imaginable colors, some OF the longer ones
being very prettily striped and others
spotted
The skipper paused at this point in the
narrative to remark that one of the ser
pents came SO close to the ship that he might
have leaned over the side and dropped n
brick on Ii if he rad bricks aboard. He
went down into the cabin and brought up
his rifle. With Claire and her mother look
ing on, he sent bullet through the body
OF the sea snake. He knows this, because
the water was dyed with the monsters
blood.
How big was the snake:'' the ultra
marine reporters asked. ..,..
How big was it Claire:'' asked the skip
per, turning to his little bIond-haired daugh-
ter. Claire said it was as long as the cabin.
which is about twenty feet, and, like the.
other serpents, which. the skipper's log
says, literally covered the sea for fifty
miles,''it was a "horrid beast
1t was phenomeuaIly hot day, even for
the neghborhood OF BorDeo. The ther-
mometer indicated 1875 degrees the sea-
except where the great snakes squirmed,
their bright skins glist ening in the sunshine
was almost pulseless, and there was not n
breath OF air astir.
ION the port, or fresh water, side of the
ship" read the skipper, ,resuming his yarn,
"a numbe OF alligators and huge catfish,
such as we catch in the Southern rivers,
were to be seen swimming close to the
dividing line of fresh and salt water. Every
once in a while one could be seen making
a dash at a dolphin r bonito, and, seizing
the fish n its jaws, it would swim back 10
fresh water and eat its victim al leisure
KILLED BY A GATOR.
''But the allgators were not always so
fortunate in their excursions, for we saw
one W hich had to pay dearly for its temerity
in trying to seize beautiful dolphin that
was at the moment being hotly pursued by
an immense shark Alligator and shark
both seized the dolphin at the same mo-
ment. and, in an instant, We beheid
terrific conflict ~
The shark mapaged-to seiZe the ALL
gators right hind leg in its mouth, and,
keeping itself well under water to avoid
the frightful lashiDgs of the gators tail,
it simply s,eered the unfortunate saurian
out into the blue or salt water. This ap-
peared to be more than the alligator could
stand. for wesaw itrapidly growing W eaker.
The shark appeared to realize that it had
it's antagonist out -of its element, for 1T
suddenly let go the bulldog hold on the leg.
and making a terrific dash at the gators
stomach literally tore its eDtraiE out
1.-The blood from the ecombataDts attracted
every one of the salt and fresh iIwaterdenizens
in the vicinity to the scene of the combat and
the utmost confusion appeared to prevail.
hut at the same time we could see from
our deck that the larger and more powerful
OF the fishes had formed pools or syDdicates,
and as a result, the small fishes on both
sides disappeared in very short order. We
see the same thing on the stock exchanges
once in While.
much as we had been surprised, 1t was
ordered that W were to be more surprised
yet. for just as we thought the turmoil In
the water was growing less, our atten-
ton was called TO the other side OF tire
ship and we there saw a sight such as we