The Winslow mail., 1899-01-28
LIKE A SEA OF BLOOD.
Strange Visitation in the Waters of
Narragansett Bay.
Thousands of Dead Fish, Crabs and
Eels Found in WindrOvvs Along
tie Beaches-TheOrles
offered.

That part of Narragansett bay
which lies north of Prudence island is
shaped very much like q wedge. The
base, to the southwark, is about four
or five miles wide, and its length, up
to Providence, is from ten to twelve
miles. This particular branch of the
main bay is sometimes called Provi-
elence river But whatever its name.
the dimensions remain unchanged.
There are at least 30 square miles in
this one area, and if Greenwich bay
off to the southeast, and PoTtions Of
Seekonk river, which runs into the bay
st Providence, be counted. the extent
OF the water to which this story relates
was not a whit less than 40 square
miles.
In the latter part of August and ear
ly in September, this year, il was no.
ticed that the waters of Providence and
Seekonk rivers were thick and red.
They emitted an offensive odor, which
at length became almost intolerable.
Some observers described the color as
chocolate"
The most remarkable phase OF the
situation was not noticed until Sep
tember s, and 10. Thousands of dead
fish, crabs and eels were found in wind
rows along the beaches. Boatmen
could see such marine creatures as blue
crabs, menhaden, tautog and fatfish
come to the surface of the water and
betray uneasiness, as if they wished to
escape from the element in which they
were immersed. Often they would come
TO the very shore in their efforts to
avoid the noxious inf iuence to which
they were subjected Indeed" says
Prof. Mead. of Brown university, "the
shrimp and cells were actually OBJ
served TO climb out of the water upon
stakes and buoys, and even upon the
iron cylinders which support the
bridges, and which must have been very
hot. In several instances On Septem-
Der and hundreds of blue era bs
were caught by single individual in
a few minutes time at the mouth of
.he Seekonk." And On the following
day hardly live crab or shrimp could
be found anywhere within the region
indicated.
One theory offered, and which seems
to be plausible, is based on the discov-
cry that the water derived its hue from
the presence OF an astonishing num-
Der of minute living organisms. These
were ruddy or brown, and were so
abundant as to render the sea opaque
at a depth of only six inches. These
creatures were found III the Seekonk
only when the tide carried them up.
but they swarmed in the bay at all
times for days. Immediately after the
wholesale determination IF life here
mentioned the organisms themselves
grew scarcer, but they again increased
in abundance until September %, when
a heavy raiDstorm seemed to purify the
water to a great extent. Even as late
as the middle of October few of them
could be detected in the bay.
Several instances of the sea being col
ored red in other parts of the globe are
cited by Prof. Mead. In one, near Bonn
bay, the alleged cause was the presence
in the ocean of species Of peridinium,
which Carter named the sanguineum,
because its hue resembled that of
blood Darwin's description of animal
cuies that lmpart red tint to tfraSea
south of Valparaiso is also declared to
3ccord with the characteristics of the
peridinium. The Brown university nat
uralist suggests that perhaps the or
ganisms which give to the Red sea its
hue and name and those that turned
the sea red near Iceland in 1649 are
identical with the visitor to Providence
river. Fl. j. Carter, who wrote up the
Bombay case at considerable length
called attention to the seeming par
allel between the observed phenoTne-
non and one Of the plaques of the time
Of Moses:
And all the waters that were in the
river were turned to blood" "Ard the
fish that was in the river died, and the
river stank. and the Egyptians could
not drink of the water of the river;
and there was blood throughout I'll the
land of Egypt. t.'-Chicago Inter Ocean.