Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1909-02-13
SOME TALES OF THE
DREADED SEASERpENT.
4 Creature That May Not Be
Entirely Imaginative.
After All.

Inc announcement tlat the ola pad |
dle-wheel yacht Osborne is, after her |
long years of royal service, to be bro |
ken up recalls the interesting fact that |
1T was from her quarterback, just over |
40 years ago, that the public received |
one of the most circumstantial and
credible reports of the existence of tho
sea serpent, that congener of the giant
gooseberry and laughing stock of the
skeptic, says the London Globe. 1t
was off the coast of Sicily, on the af-
ternoon of June 2, 1877, that the COM
mander and officers of the yacht
deserted the great unknown" Not
only detailed description but pen
Gil sketch taken by one of the officers,
was forwarded to the admiralty. The;
weather at the time was fair, the sea
calm and the creature was studied by
those on board through powerful glass
es. The total length of head and back
visible on the surface of the water was.
estimated at some SO feet, with
breadth at the shoulders of Is feet. The
skin was smooth and scaleless, Ike
that of seal, while the head re-
sembled an alligators ridge of fins
stood up from the back, while other fins
seemed to propel 1t through the water.
Two years previous somewhat sim
liar creature had been sighted off Cape
San Rogue from the deck of the collier
Pauline, of London. 1t rose suddenly
from the depths of the sea and attacked
one of a school of sperm whales, coiling
itself around the victims body after
the manner of a boa constructor. The
cracking of the whales ribs as 1t strug
gled and beloved was distinctly heard.
In 1S4S the commander of her majesty's
ship Daedalus encountered sea SER
pent off the coast of Africa. The
creature differed materially, however,
from that seen by the officers of the
Osborne. Although some go feet of it's
body was visible, no fms were observed
by the captain, but a fringe of some
thing resembling seaweed chung about
its back. 1t held its head and neck
four feet above the water, and pursued
a steady and undertaking course, pass
ing close to the ship at rate of Is or
16 miles on hour.
It is impossible to treat these and
other similar reports, given as they are
by men of education and of long expert
ence of the common objects of the sea.
as sailors yarns, or to believe that the
objects which they saw were nothing
but seals, a flock of sea birds or
mass Of floating seaweed. The utmost
explanation that can be suggested
| other than the admission of the sea
serpent'S eXistenCc-is that the creature
seen in combat with the whale was
| that most tremendous and horrible of
brutes, the giant squid, whose ten
tacles wound about the whale, would
have a serpentine appearance. The
squid, again, is known to attain some
40 feet in length, and as 1t possesses
the power of swimming backward, its
tail fin. raised above the water, might
not impossibly be taken for serpent's
head; while it's tentaCles and the COM
motion raised by it's passage in calm
sea might give undue impressions of its
real length. 1t is to be remembered,
however, that so eminent a scientist
as the late Philip Henry Gosse thought
1af Of ,,ia agin NY llN
believed extinct, might still survive in
remote ocean depths. though he eau
tiously suggested 12 or Is feet as the
limit of It's length. Darwin was also
inclined to take this view, though
Owen asserted that an unusually large
sea was the true foundation OF all sea
serpent stories.
A very remarkable case of circum-
stantial evidence for the existence Of
some unknown and predatory monster
of the sea occurred about 40 years ago.
attracting much attention at the time.
| The trading brig Marie Celeste left
| Boston with a general cargo for the
Mediterranean. She was manned by a
crew of II hands, while the captain
| was accompanied by his wife and little
girl In due course she was sighted
outside the Strait Of Gibraltar, appar-
emily making for the passage. But it
soon became evident to those on shore
boat was dispatched to board her. She
was found to be absolutely abandoned; !;
but the desertion of her captain and
crew, If desertion it were, was of the
most extraordinary nature. All sail was
set and not a spar or rope was out of
place. Not one of the briggs boats was
missing; the captains papers and valu-
ables were intact: while both in the
cabin and the forecastle a freshly
cooked and half consumed dinner was
on the table. Only one suspicious sign
was to be seen-a single deep cut, as
though made by the blow of an ak, on
the bulwarks.
In spite of all inquiries no light was
ever thrown upon the mystery. Not
one of the crew, nor yet the captain or
his wife and child, was ever heard Of
Piracy and mutiny seemed alike out OF
the question: there was no blood, nc
sign of a struggle. The freshness OF
the half-eaten meal and the fact that
the brig was making so directly fol
the strait pointed conclusively to the
recent occurrence of whatever catas-
trophe had taken place. It was be-
lieVed by many at the time that some
sea serpent, or at least some cuttlefisf
or suuid. had reared itself upon the
vessels deck, had swept from his post
the steersman-the sole man in charge
and then, as one after another had
come on deck to learn the reason OF
the vessels veering from her course
Oh,