Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-08-05

and joking over the persistency Of the
demon, when Il of them fell from the
yard as they were making sail. He turn
ed over and over in his descent, but
struck the water feet first and was out
of sight a long minute. When he came
to the surface, he shot his full length
out Of water, and the men uttered a
cheer to encourage him, and the life
preserver Was cut away. The man had
just grasped it when the shark seized
him by the legs, and those who were
looking saw both man and the life pre-
server disappear in the NAV of the mon
ster. Later on fragments of the float
anne to the surface, but nothing fur
Their was seen of the shark. The incident
was logged and duly reported in New
York.
News OF strange things at sea passes
about in maritime circles with wonder.
full CELEBRITY. The various adventures
with the demon were soon known far
and wide, and every craft sailing for
India or China kept a sharp lookout for
him. II he was seen between January
and April, 1864, there is no record of
it, but on the 18th day Of the latter
month, when l left the port of st. Luis,
in the island of Mauritius, bound for
Bombay, in the brig Charleston, the
monster appeared alongside before we
were 90 miles out of port. This was the
first time he had been seen GO far to the
south and was a distance of 8, 900 miles
from the spot where he had snapped up
his last man. The demon appeared to
us suddenly, as in all other cases. When
sharks are around, their dorsal fins can
be seen cutting the water here and there,
and they seldom come near a moving
craft. The first thing we knew the mon
ster was running with the ship, and so
close that Il could have touched him
with a ten foot pole. We measured his
length by the rail, and then a tapeline
gave us exactly 3S feet 8 inches. The
only weapons aboard were two navy re.
y%olvers, and the captain took n and |
the other, and we fired IL bullets fair
into the body of the fish. | am telling
you the plain truth when l say that he
did not swerve an inch or seem to feel
the slightest pain. The bullets certainly
went into him. but when an ordinary
shark can have two or three feet cut off
his tail and still continue to swim about
unooncernedly there isn't much hope Of
pistol bullets ending his life.
Knowing that the presence of the de-
mon meant a horrible death to any man
who fell overheard, the word was passed
for every Il to be very careful Of him
self while aloft. The shark picked us
up Of a Tuesday morning at 10 o'clock.
We had a fair wind for the north, and
up to Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock he
had not secured a victim. No matter
whether the breeze was strong or weak,
whether it was daylight or darkness,
the demon kept his place alongside.
We tried him with baited hooks, we
stuffed an old suit Of clothes and threw
the figure overheard, we put more bull
let's into linn and worked all sorts Of
schemes to drive him off, but it was not
to be done. If he sheered off at some
UCAlOuot1 dG4OAy ~ vas U ICuulA nlb dlU0l
a moment and take up his old position.
His presence was such a menace and
peril that all felt uncomfortable and
nervous, and by order of the captain
the men were kept out of the rigging
except when it became positively neces-
sary to go aloft. When Friday came
and no accident had happened, we be-
gan to take heart and hoped to see the
demon leave us. III all those days and
nights he had eaten nothing, and SO easy
was it for him to keep pace with US that
one might watch for an hour and not
notice a movement Of his tail. While
we were hoping that hunger and the
long swim had about exhausted him the
cook got upon the rail Oh the opposite
side from the shark to draw a pail of
water. A sudden lurch Of the ship sent
him overheard. happened to be watch
ing the shark at the same moment
With the quickness Of thought he was
gone from under my eyes, and, passing
under the brig, he seized the cook be-
fore the latter had time to cry out and
before a man had advanced to the rail.
Four or five sailors got there just in
time to see the victim disappear, and as
there was no tinge Of blood on the wa
ter they could we'll declare hat the
shark had swallowed him whole.
A month later, 800 miles to the east
ward of Mauritius, the demon arose
alongside the Scotch whaler Albatross
and followed her two days and got a
man who fell from the bowsprit. Three
months later, to the south Of Madagas.
car, he got a man from a Boston ship
called the White Wave. During the
same year, when the English ship Cape
Horn was wrecked off Cape Town and
some Of the crew took to a raft, the big
shark followed the raft for seven days
and nights and devoured nine different
men who fell or lsaped into the sea. In
1868 the demon cruised in the route of
ships between Cape Town and Australia
and was seen q dozen times. In 1866 he
was back in the bay of Bengal. The last
seen of him was Oft the Laxative islands
in the Arabian sea. He arose alongside
of an English gunboat one afternoon,
and, after taking his measure, one Of
the guns was loaded with shell and
trained to bear on him. When the smoke
cleared away, the shark could no longer
be seen, and as he was never met with
afterward by any craft which made q
record Of the circumstance it may be