The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1907-12-28
SEA sERPEKrs.
A Proposal to Catch One oe The Nor
wegian Coast,


u the expedition. Recently be inserted
an advertisement in one 81 the London
papers 10 r. to ind a financial hacker
Tor his projected sea serpent hunt iic
has received several Answers, bat none
Of them. he told me. has been quite salts.
factory. but be i stu hopeful tina, he
win suossed Ii landing capitalist before
the ssa serpent season begus. lie has
done much d his voyagng in English
ships and speaks English well.
4 advertised IN a London paper" he
said. because rich folk are thick a.
haekberfles there. aud from what have
heard many of them put a lot Of money
into schemes that. TO say tlre least Of Il,
are quite a. risky a. sea serpent
chase
Olsen believes in sea serpcnts, though
be told me be had never had the good
fortune 10 sec one himself. "But In my
sea experience l have met many sailors
that have. be added -and III accept
their evidence any day against the opin
Ion Of ianduhbsrs who know nothing
Of the mysteries Of the deep. II the PEG.
pie / know who have seen sea serpcnts
only had money ! would not have 20 ad.
vertise IN London paper for . capitalist
to back ny scheme. It il strange be
unused. that none Of those millicnairos
who 70 around The world IN big steam
yachts have never spotted one"
Have You devised any plan for catch.
inn a sea serpent Z" quericd.
~0f course | have he answered, !
wouldn't expect anybody 70 put money
into the idea # hadn't What propose
to do Is TO apply, In principle, the method
followed by modern whalers. You know
they shoot The whale with a harp0on
provided with a bomb that explodes
when the line tightens. The bomb not
only kills the whale but generates a lot
Of gas. uhk<h prevents il from sinking.
"But as sea serpents don't seem to
come 10 the surface often they will have
TO be sought on the bottom, at, perhaps,
considerable depth, and that will necessi-
tate a modification Of the whaling
methods Instead OF trying 20 shoot a
hsrpoon into a sea serpent, ono will have
to 20 fishing for him. The apparatus will
be dragged along the bottom Of the sea
by ship. Attached TO the bait will be a
bomb. when the sea serpent swallows
the bait he will swallow the bomb, too,
for ii needn't be a particularly big one
to do the business. When the sea SER
pent 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 it, OF
course, one can't make anything clear
without drawings, but I've schemed
everything out. and provided for fixing
the bomb so that Il can't be discharged
by mere contact with the sea bottom"
"But supposing the bomb didn't kill
the serpent right of It might, II i should
turn out to be as big as some Of the sea
serpents one reads about, make things
rather dangerous for the sea serpent
hunterlp
ave thought that out, said Olson,
aaud I'm not proposing to take any
unnecessary risks. I'd want TO give a
pretty wide berth to a big sea serpent in
death furry or fighting mad. So ] pro-
pose that the steamship should tow a
buov some considerable distance astern
and to that buoy would be attacher the
line that stretched TO the bottom the
bomb and the rest OF the business. Then
when 1t was found chat the sea serpent
had been hooked and was cutting up too
lively the steamer could, If necessary,
cut adrift from the buoy, and leave the
sea serpent, which would be still fast
hitched to the buoy to worry around mn
till IL expired or got played out, IT
could be picked up again easily with the
aid OF the buoy
"What bait do you propose to use 70
catch your sea serpentT
We'll, Of course, that would be o mat
ter of experiment, too. Nobody knows
what IA the favorife diet of the sea SER
pents. But | reckon that a good big
chunk Of pork or beef would tickle their
nalates Most sea animals are fond OF
meat, though suppose they have TO pat
up with fish for everyday fare"
slave You figured how much 70 IS
is likely to cost to equip your sea ser
pent expedition y
II estimate that the gear, chains
buoy and lines would eat UP something
between $50 and $1,000, They would
| have to be good and strong, Of course. Ia
charter and run a steamer for three 81
four weeks would take about VI 800 o.
ISL 700
where would You first look for sea
serpentsg
Along the coast Of Norway. "A few
miles from shore there runs q deep gut
ter along 1t, and I've notion II n there
sea serpents are most likely to bs
found
and If you catch sea serpent how
much do Won think it will fetchI
aWell.n said the old man with a grin
eno market price has yet been fixed fol
sea serpsnts that know of, but I'm vii.
Hing 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
lit down to the highest bidder. II Va
lcaught one sea serpent We should b
likely to catch more, and | reckon I
would take q lot Of them to satisfy thi
demand at fancy prices. I'm in earnest
about this sea serpent business. u ISM
scientific knowledge and that sort Q
thing that I'm after. bnt money .
course. though. scientists would be vel
coined on tie expedition provided the
Maid for their board and accommoda
ton. Washington Star