Evening star., 1902-08-02

reads the log Of the British Banner. April
%, 1859. THE serpent was powerful
enough (although the ship was carrying all
sail and going at about six knots at the
time he attacked us) TO stop her way COM
pletely. When the bowsprit with the jib-
boom sails and rigging went by the board.
the monster swallowed the foretopmast
staysail and flying jib with the greatest ap-
parent ease. He also snapped the thickest
OF the rigging asunder like thread.
?, saw no more of II, but caught young one
In the afternoon"
savage battle between a sea serpent and
a sperm whale was described by the can
tain and crew OF the British ship London.
through their chaplain, at Zanzibar 1878.
Ihey observed three very large sperm
whales, and one of them was gripped
round the body with two turns by what APP
peared to be huge serpent. Its back was
Of darkish brown and its belly white
with an immense head and mouth. the lat-
ter always open: the head and tail had A.
length beyond the coils about thirty feet:
It's grth was about eight or nine feet.
Using its eNtremities as levers. the SERPENT
whirled its victim round and round for
about fifteen minutes, and then suddenly
head first"
A similar adventure was related by Capt.
Davidson Of the Kiushiu Maru. of Japan,
lSSo: The chief officer and myself observed
whale Jump clear out Of the sea, about a
quarter of a mile away. Shortly after Il
leaped out again. when 1 saw there was
something attached to IL. Got glasses and
on the next leap distinctly saw sonnet hing
holding on the belly of the whale. The lat
ter gave one more spring clear OF the
water, and myself and chief then observed
what appeared to be about the thickness of
a 1unks mast and after standing about
ten seconds in an erect position Il de-
scended into the water, the upper end going
nrst With my glasses made out the color
OF the beast to be that of the pilot fish"
These six stories represent the cream OF
nautical evidence.
From the throat, attached to a kind Of
cushion projects a hard tongue. pointed,
provided with suckers and Glitterlng like
steel, and phosphorescing as the sea occa-
sionally does" was the deseription hy C.
Renard of Paris OF a sea serpent seen in
moonlight aboard the Don in August 1881
The report was -attested to by seven sigma
lures, and further said of the monster: "It
caused a stencil enough to make one H.
which hung about us for more than half an
hour
The Great Hydrarchos Hoax.
What proved for a time to be the most
successful sea serpent hoax on record was
perpetrated by DR.. Albert c. Koch a SEMI
scientist. In 1916 he exhibited in Broadway,
N. Y, large skeleton of a fossil animal
which he had named "Hydrarchos or Sea
King" The remains consisted of a head
and vertebral column measuring ia feet.
After they had excited the people of this
country for some time a Prof Wyman ex-
amined them and discovered that they rep
resented the bones Of several Zeuglodons
strung together. Kock later sold the skele-
ton to the museum of Dresden.
According to Dir. Oudemans the real sea
serpent probably grows to be long as 249
feet. Its head, resembling that of a sea
lion, reaches feet in length. Its long, eel
like neck stretches out, in the largest and
most mature individuals. over - feet. Its
trunk, not unlike that of the seal. is, in
the case of the biggest males. "a feet long.
The tail Of one Of these largest specimens
tapers to a point 100 feet from the trunk It
has two flapperS on each side and is covered
all over with hair like that of the seal;
but the males only are possessed of names.
"A new born pup most probably has a
length of about 20 feet" says the learned
zoologist. Pup sea serpents' is a term
which cannot but excite the risibles of the
most melancholy. But DR.. Oudemans' sea
serpent is not a serpent. Like the zeuglo-
don, it is a mammal. The animal is evil
IDENTIFY quite harmless creature" the doc
tor adds. 1T IS evident that il is tough
one; ii is not easy to kill it. A single rife
ball seems to be insufficient and | think
the only manner to kill it is by explosive
balls or with harpoons loaded with nitro
glycerne."
The doctor has collected reports Of many
hundreds of observations and from these
has weeded out what he terms the cheats
and hoaXes"
Look out fo- Oudemans' sea serpent this
month.
There are more things in heaven and