Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-11-30
HUNT SEA SERPENTS
Old Sailor Wants Capitalists
to Back Him.
ADVERTISES IN THE PAPERS
Carl Olsen of Christiania Has Ideas
on Subject.
SAYS MONSTERS REALLY EXIST
Gets Replies to "Ads" in London
Newspaper, But Finds No Salts
fectory Backer Of Enterprise.
JAYS MONSTERS REALLY EXIST
pecial Correspondence of The Star. :

@ARb OlLSEN. an old Seafaring
man, who lives in this city, believes
that the only way to convince a
skeptfcal world that sea serpents really
exist is to catch one. Furthermore, he Is
willing to undertake the Job, provided
anybody can be persuaded to risk 50, 500
to defray the cost of the expedition. Re-
Gently he inserted an advertisement in one
of the London papers to try TO find a
financial hacker for his projected sea-ser-
pent hunt He has received several an
swers, but none of them, he told me- has
been quite satisfactory. But he is still
hopeful that he will succeed in landing
capitalist before the sea serpent season
begins. He has done much of his yoyas-
ing in English ships and speaks English
WELL
Il advertised in a London paper" no
said. because rich folk are thick -
nlackoerries there. and from what I have
heard many of them put a lot of money
INTO schemes that, to say the least Of It,
are quite as risky as sea-serpent chase"
Olsen believes in sea serpents, though
ne told me he had never had the good for
tune TO see one himself. But in my sea
experience l nave met many sailors that
have, he added, land I'd accept their
evidence any day against the opinion of
land lubbers who know nothing of the
mysteries of the deep. If the people l
hHpW Wilo nave seen sea SerpentS only
had money would not have to advertise
IN London paper for capitalist to back
my scheme. 1t is strange" he unused.
that none of those mllionaires who go
around the world in big steam yachts
have ever spotted one"
Have you devised any plan for catch
ing sea serpent?' queried.
OF course, 1 have" he answered. IT
into the idea if 1 hadn't What / bro,
pose to do is to apply. in principle, the
method followed by modern whaIers. You
know they shoot the whale with a har-
poon provided with a bomb that explodes
when the line tightens. The bomb not
only kills the whale, but generates a lot
of gas, which prevents 1t from sinking.
To Fish for Them.
But as sea serpents don't seem to come
TO the surface often they will have to be
sought on the bottom at, perhaps. con-
siderable depth. and that will necessitate
modification of the whaling method. In
stead of trying to shoot harpoon into a
sea serpent. one will have to 90 fishing
for him. The apparatus will be dragged
along the bottom of the sea by a ship
Attached to the bait will be a bomb.
When the sea serpent swallows the bait
he will swallow the bomb, too, for 1t
needn't be a particularly big one to do
the business. When the sea serpent starts
moving, OF course, he will give a yank on
the line That yank will release three
steel claws, and at the same time explode
the bomb The steel claws will prevent |
the creature from getting loose, even If !
the bomb don't kill 1t. OF course, one |
can't make everything clear without |
drawings. but I've schemed everything |
out. and provided for fixing the bomb so |
that it can't be discharged by mere con-
tact with the sea bottom"
But supposing the bomb didn't kill |
the serpent right off it might, If it should |
turn out to be as big as some of the |
sea serpents one reads about, make things |
rather dangerous for the sea serpent |
hunters?" |
I've thought out all that" said OIL |
sen, land I'm not proposing to take any
unnecessary risks. I'd want to give
pretty wide berth to big sea serpent in
a death furry or fighting mad. So |
propose that the steamer should tow a
buoy some considerable distance astern
and to that buoy would be attached tn
line that stretched to the bottom, the
bomb and the rest of the business Then
when it was found that a sea serpent had
been hooked, and was cutting up too live
ly. the steamer could. if necessary, cut
adrift from the buoy and leave the sea
to the buoy. to worry around until it ex-
pired or got played out. 1t could be
picked up again easily with the aid of
the buoy"
Beef for Bait.
what bait do you propose to use to
catch your sea serpents?"
We'll, of course, that would be a mat
ter of experiment, too Nobody knows
what is the favorite diet of sea serpents.
But j reckon that a good big chunk CT
pork or beef would tickle their palates
Most sea animals are fond of meat,
though l suppose they have to put up
with fish for everyday fare
Have you figured out how much 1t is
likely to cost to equip your sea serpent
expedition"
II estimate that the gear, chains. buoy
$50 and $1,000. They would have to be
good and strong, of course. To charter
and run steamer for three or four weeks
would take about 81. 500 or 81, $50"
Where would you first look for sea
serpents?"
Along the coast of Norway. A few
miles from shore there runs a deep gutter
along it, and I've notion 1t is there sea
serpents are most likely to be found"
And If you catch sea serpent how
much do you think 1t will fetch?'
We'll" said the old man with grin
mo market price has yet been fixed 70.
sea serpents that l know of, but I'm
willing to wager all I've got that there
would be a big fortune in one. My idea
would be to let 'em all come and knock
1t down to the highest bidder. If We
caught one sea serpent we should be like
ly TO catch more, and ! reckon II would
take lot of them to satisfy the demand
at fancy prices. I'm in earnest about this
sea serpent business. 1t isn't scientific
knowledge and that sort of thing that I'm
scientists would be welcomed on the ex-
r1e1ifioD DrOyiaed thew paid well for their