The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-07-10
AN OCTOPUS DIMES.

! Never before has it fallen to my LOT
to see the terrible monster we encoun,
tered on the last passage from Sar
Francisco toward Nanaimo in the bari,
| Wilscott of Honolulu.
| We knew that the octopus grew to an
| immense size, as Banks and Solander
who accompanied Capt. Cook in his first
! voyage around the world, found the
dead carcass of one floating on the
water to the westward of Cape Horn.
| 1t was supposed to be twenty by thirty
feet, the body only; the tentacles were
hanging under water. 1t was sur
| rounded by miriads of birds, which
We're feeding greedily on its remains.
| Pliny also mentions a similar monster
having eight arms, thirty feet long, and
a corresponding girth; and many other
writers, too numerous to mention, have
| certified to its actual eXistance. But |
did not believe that anything similar to
the terrible devil fish described by
Victor Hugo was really in existence
until | had ocular demonstration of the
fact on this passage.
[ will now quote our log book in rela-
ton to the monster we saw; Saturday
May 10, latitude SO degrees 80 minutes
north, longitude 1856 degrees 40 minutes
west. Light breeze from north by east,
dry, cloudy weather; smooth sea, except
for the usual slight undulating swell
from the northwest. Ship under all
sail, braced sharp upon the starboard
tack, going five knots per hour, but
scarcely making a ripple on the water,
AT 2:30 p. m. my attention was called
by the Quartermaster, Frank Baetas of
San Diego, Cal, to a terrible commo-
ton in the water about three points for
ward of the lee beam.
Its eyes We're large, of greenish tint
and somewhat protrudinG; it's mouth,
however, was not SO very large, and 1t
appeared to be shaped like d parrots
bill; its tentacles were tapering. and
like its body, of a grayish color covered
with spots. 1t appeared to possess the
chameleon-like power of changing the
color of those spots in a most extraordi-
nary manner as fast as the eye could de-
tect the changes; they varied from a
very rich crimson to dark, dull brown,
these changes, no doubt, indicating the
high state of excitement under which
the creature was at the time.
Suddenly the octopus discharged
huge jet of dark-coored fluid full into
the eyes of the sunfish, and then rush
ing forward with the rapidly of an
arrow it encircled it's prey with the long
tentacles, and in another moment the
victor and the vanquished had disap-
peared below the surface of the water.
In few moments more we had sailed
right over the scene and found the
water was colored almost black for a
space of fully 200 feet in diameter. and
we noticed an odor slightly resembling
iodine rising from the water; our pit |
ent log line of snow-white cotton, which
was towing astern, was colored almost |
black, and it has not yet assumed it's |
white freshness, although it has towed |
in the water fully 500 miles since the |
above episode.
About twenty minutes after we had |
passed over this spot we saw the huge |
creature again on the surface enjoying
its meal in a very leisurely manner, roll
ling the body of the unfortunate suntish
over and over and biting off large
with it's cruel-looking beak |
| knew before that these huge octo-
pods and their relatives, the decapods,
were not altogether mythical, as they
have at the United States National
Museum in Washington a PAPER n1ache
cast of one of the latter which was
'ound stranded on the north shore of
Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, on the 22d
lay of September, 1877. The total
ength of this specimen, including ten
.acles, was only sixty feet 50 it is safe
% infer that 1t had not become of age
when it was wrecked.-San Francisco
1all.