Evening journal., 1901-10-09
LIVE SNAKES In
BLOOD-RED SEA
Strange Story Told by Cap
tain Robinson
REPTILES SWARMED THE OCEAN
Mysterious Phenomenon Witnessed by
Crew Of She Steamship
EasingWaId

Tales OF phenomena witnessed at sea
are enhanced by the story Of Captain
Robinson Of the steamer Easingwald.
which proceeded up the river yesterday
after vayoge Of $4,000 miles from Soura-
baya. Java. The vessel carried large
cargo OF sugar, and is at the dock OF the
McCahan Sugar Refinery, foot Of Tasker
street, Philadelphia
"A hlood-red lake, dotted with black
spots, and swarmmg with snakes" was
what the commander OF the Easingwald
says he saw in the Indian ocean.
Captain Robinson has been seafaring
for forty-iive years, aud declared last
night that he had never seen or heard of
such an exhibition, and could in no way
account for il. lie said:
when about forty-three miles sonth-
west Of Ceylon. on August 6, and in lati-
tude 1929 south. longitude 1922 east, the
watch called attention TO what looked
like q sea Of blood. Through my glasses
saw that the sea for limited area had
a deep red color, dotted with black
specks. ! ordered the vessel about. The
sea was covered by Il thick substance Of
bright red color, which swarmed with
snakes, sluggish, as if gorgcd with the
everything substance
This resembled tomato soup and was
Of the consistency Of jelly Even when
the PROV of the Eusingwald plOughad
through il the snakes made no effort TO
escape They seemed to be asleep. They
varied in length from is inches 10 feet,
and Il few OF them were probably feet
IA. i.
were upturned ana showed white bellies.
a peculiarity was that two inches from
the tail there was on the back Of each
white band three inches in width. We
sailed for two hours through the dis
agreeable mass, which covered an area
"A miles long by miles wide. The layer
seemed to be about two feet thick. The
black spots turned out TO be something
like the seeds in watermelon. but very
much larger. There was dsAgreeable
odor, not unlike that of decayed fish. l
cannot account for the strange spectacle.
| My Wife, who accompanied me on the
voyage. and my son Robert who is first
mate Of the vessel will tell you more
about IT,"
Mrs. Robinson and the first mate cor
rohorated the account in detail. Captain
! Robinson himself was not disposed to
! dwell on the incident, but his wife re-
minded him Of 1t when apparently he was
about to dismiss the voyage as common
place. On his wife's suggestion he re-
counted the story and called for the ships
| log to refresh his memory Then Captain
Robinson pointed to half dozen sealed
bottles containing some Of the blood
| stained fluid taken mp in buckets over the
| ships side. Two Of these bottles showed
a thick maroon-colored fluid occupying
| the lower half of the receptacle, while
the upper half contained slightly-discol-
ored water. The other bottles were al
| together filled with the dark fluid. Not
one Of the snakes was picked mp from the
sea when the buckets were lowered TO se-
cure specimens of the fluid Captain
1 Robinson declares. however, that the rep
tiles were Of the sea, not Of the earth, and
that the thick matter in which they We're
imbedded was not the spawn Of either
! jelly or cuttlefish.
On September 90, when the Easingwald
was in mid-Atlantic after coaling at Glib
raltar, she passed q red SPAR whose drift
ings have been repeatedly recorded by
the United States photographic Office.
/ Originally the spar drifted out to sea
| from the Delaware bay last winter and
\ by its markings has been traced at half
dozen points in its course eastward
| through the Atlantic ocean.