The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-21
MONSTERS OF DEEP
GIGANTIC FISHES THAT ARE
STRONG ENOUGH TO TOW
A SHIP
SEA BATS AND FLYING sQUIDs
Exciting Adventures With Denizens
of the Ocean That Are Full of
Fight and of Massive
Size.
Ry Chnrles r. HoIder.

TACT lHdJ she IaI Deen struck by water
spout and hurricane, yet. was still in
commission, lay In the harbor of Garden
Key, Fla. 1t was a hot, MINDLESS day
the gulf was as smooth as glass, and
the crew had gone ashore, leaving the
smack in charge of a negro cook, VINO
was lying asleep under a fold of the jib
How long the man slept he did not
know, but he was suddenly awakened ny
the rattle of the chain. Spr.nging up,
he saw that the smack was under way,
shooting along without sail and In a
dead calm, yet following the crooke
channel with perfect accuracy. The ne
gro was at first dazed; then terror crept
into his soul. and as the vessel passed
stake buoy he dashed overheard and
swan to it, leaving the mysterious sloop
to her fate By this time the crew had
noticed her absence and went out in the
boat and having picked up the cook, they
pulled after the smack and finally came
up with her two miles off shore, where
she was quietly drifting
For some time TIE strange incident
was considered one of the deep unsolv-
able mysteries of the Teef, providing the
superstittous beach combers and wreck
ers with fund that was literally drawn
upon, until another vessel mysterious
sailed away on the reef, and the cause
was discovered in the giant ray or man.
ia, a fish which in the tropics attalns
is as ugly and disagreeable a creature
as can be imagined In appearance it
resembles a bird in flight, the side fins
being pointed and moved up and down
like the wings Of a bird. At the head
are two long fieshy feelers, or claspers,
which are continually in motion and Ca
pable of clasping objects, while behind
streams a long. whip.ike tail In SWIM
ming along the bottom the ray mentioned
in the incident of the smack Terror"
CHANGED to strike the anchor chain. At
once the claspers were thrown about X,
and terrified, the fish surged ahead, lift
ing the anchor from the bottom and tow
ing the vessel away, to the amazement
of the crew.
In the United States this large ray
ranges from the outer Florida keys north
TO the Carolinas. In the localities where
it is found it is one of the most con-
spicUous and interesting fishes. On the
Lower California coast it is greatly
dreaded by the pearl divers, who call it
the blanket fish and state that it set
ties down over them AMI endeavors to
smother them But its SIZE and great
strength are features which commend
It to the lover of vigorous sport, with
more than a soupcon Of danger thrown
in.
I first heard of the strange fish in the
vicinity Of Tampa, where a member of
in a circle, as they turned throwing the
sharp tip Of the fin out Of the water
Later when drifting over the lagoon
of Long Key one night, there came out
OF the darkness a rushing, whistling
sound then a crash, so near us that
heavy waves rocked the boat on the
MINDLESS sea. Paublo, the colored boat
man, said that 1t was caused by a devil
fish fifty feet wide" and with the whites
of his eyes shining, he turned the boat in
shore. When l proposed to him the
next day that we catch a devil fish, he
replied, ''Marster, you'll suttenly hab
to scuse me. I amt cut out TO no hunt
er nohow; I jes amt born catcher way.
I reckon some is, but I amt"
found a man who was; an old Semi
mole, who had been living on the reef,
and the following morning we rowed out
in our stout boat on the trail of the
big ray. The weapons were a. two
pronged spear or grains, with barbs
which set in, long slender pole of yell
low pine into which the grains set with
cap, and a coil of stout rope the size
OF the clothes line To the east Of the
key was large lagoon-really the bottom
Of a growing atoll, from eight to ten
feet in depth, with pure white sandy
bottom, cut mere and there by a deep
blue artery-like channel To the east
was the barrier reef against which the
sgd bSdl llIGIGSSIyS 10 the nOICn the
end Of Long and Bush keys came to-
gether, while to the south three miles
distant, was the open sea, guarded by the
sentinel-like wreck of some unknown
ship Of long ago
As we left the blue channel and moved
over the reef, small black eagle rays
darted here and there. 1t was Chiefs
opinion that the rays came in from the
outer sea to feed In the lagoon at night
and that we were likely to catch them
early in the morning. The sun was lust
creeping UP through the vermillion-tinted
clouds as we reached the center and
turned down, he sculling, and I standing
in the bow, grains in hand, the rope coiled
in the bottom OF the boat We had
not gone an eighth of a mile before we
noticed, where the lagoon deepened, sew
eral fins, like those Of a shark, only Jet
black moving in a circle.
Devil fish," whispered Chief, turning
the boat and sculling slower.
We went carefully and slowly on, not
70 alarm the gigantic game, until the
boat drifted within fifty feet of the magic
circle around which half a dozen rays
We're circling, their pointed fins cutting
the water with a kissing sound, their
black forms a marked contrast against
the bottom. The sight of these black.
winged creatures whirling along was
Fascinating, not to say an appalling one,
anu LOT q lew moments we dr1- Led on the
border watching the sea bat as II ia
well called, in one of it's peculiar per-
formances; then Chief cautiously urged
the boat nearer in, foot by foot until
the great fins cut the surface not twenty
feet away, then ten. AS a. particularlv
large ray whirled along, I hurled the
grains into its broad back The mael
strom was nothing to it. Each ray struck
the water furiously and in a. second II
boiled and foamed as though q volcano
had broken out and from the center rose
gigantic black batlike form beating
its wings violently, to fall with
resounding crash. The pole had
leaped from the socket AT the
impact and the rope was sliding over
the rail like living thing. It could not
be seized and the end came with a ierlr
that sent us down into the bottom ON
the boat, from which we quickly crawled
to man the line, now stiff and singing.
the boat rushing along. bow under, carry
Ing foaming wave ahead of her.
Two men in boat towed by as fiery a
steed as ever felt a halpoon, and how to
turn it? The ray had headed out to sea.
and after a race Of perhaps ten minutes
we felt the swell of the gulf and could
not see the bottom. Then we laid on the
line, gaining foot by foot, holding while
chief put out the oars and held them
but even this had little or no effect
What changed it's course is broble-
NAUTICAL, but turn the fish did while We
were hauling, and turned so suddenly
that The boat was almost swamped as
her bow was jerked around. The ray was
now racing along the barrier entering the
lagoon again, and the question was tn
get 1t and lance it before it turned again
10 accomplish this we hauled and haul