Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1910-03-30
THE SEA SERPENT.
By CAPT. =. Q. ,. CABBAGE

BY CAPT. r. 9. =. cASDAoK-
''Csptain, in your voyages ON many seas
did you ever see the far-famed sea-ser-
pentr'
ssYes," answered, 81 have seen hum
dreds and possibly Thousands"
"Why, captain, / never heard that
there were so manyi In what part Of the
world did you see them?'
In the China and lava seas, Bay Of
Bengal, and on the southwestern coast Of
India
"How long were they, captain, from
forty to hundred feet. rs they have been
described?n
20 no, nothing like ii. They are from
one foot to four or five in length. The
only one I ever measured was little short
Of four feet, and he was considered Of mir
size"
''Were they real serpents, captain,
similar to those seen on land? or what was
their appearance?n
s'Yes, nearly identical in 20 far a. form,
color and general appsarance indicate.
They were Of . rusty brown color on the
bacK, q dirty yellow underneath, with
body, eyes, mouth and wiggling motion
of the common snake, and their bite il
said to be as poisonous q that Of the rattle
snake"
In Hoosburgh's East India Sailing
Directory this is said in connection with
them: sin approaching Bombay, in the
southwest monsoon the weather will be
cloudy, rainy and thick, SO that observa-
tions OF the heavenly bodies for determin-
ing q ships position may not be taken for
several days together. But the bank Of
soundings extends $50 miles from the
coast, and if close watch be made upon
its outer edge there will be seen small
snakes, increasing in size as the coast is
neared.r
On two voyages to Bombay in the south
west monsoon the writer found the con-
ditions just as they were described in the
directory, the snakes indicating the bank
of soundings and the ships relative posi-
ton and distance from the coast.
The only time the writer inspected one
of those snakes at close range was in the
Java sea many years ago, the occasion
being singular and worth relating. 1t was
in the dog-wa.ch near sunset, the sea
smooth, the wind light, the ship having
walking the deck together. Snakes, as
usual in that locality, were about the
waters near the ship and Q hawk was
lowering near by. Suddenly the hawk
swooped down upon q snake close by the
ships side, seized it in his taIons and
scared aloft directly over the ship.
The snake struggled and in doing SO
wound his body round the hawks neck,
choked and caused him to release his
grasp, and the snake fell to the ships
deck into a tub by the galley door by
which sat the negro cook in the act of
washing the galley pans and dishes. The
cook started up in alright and turned as
pale as his black skin would permit, and
retaining presence of mind, with a billet
Of wood killed his snakeship.
The captain and writer had witnessed
the scene described, and walked along to
the galley to examine the dead snake
which was some three and q half feet in
length. The cook OF the ship is usually
called doctor, and the writer said to him:
sDoctor, that snake gave you a consider
able fright, didn't he?" He replied: 30,
no, msrsa mate, it takes MORN one snake
to brighten dis chile. Use use to um. When
was cook of de ship Hswqua, an in desc
parts most cherry mornin' dared be dozen
of snakes like dis one on deck dat had
crawled frew de hoss-pipes in de night"
He probably never before saw snake
of that kind out of the water. The
captain and writer could not repress their
laughter at the old cook droll story. But
in their minds he was the biggest snake
liar they had ever heard tell of snakes.
once imagined that saw the veritable
sea-serpent. 1t was in 1919, in the Gulf
Stream northeast OF the Straits of Florida.
It was an overcast, cloudy afternoon; but
little wind, the sea quite smooth and the
object couple of miles away. It had the
appearance of the uplifted head, shaggy
name, a wriggling body tapering away to a
small tail and the whole length was fifty
or sixty feet. To my sight and feverish
imagination that was the sea-serpent.
ne Was ucd1co W tuc uOltuehst SOiuS
along, as fancied, leisurely at the rate OF
four or five miles and hour. / could see
the wake ne made, and his wriggling
through the waters and was excited over
the sight and at my own thoughts.
/ went up the mizzen rigging to the
crosstrees to get better view. 1t is well
did so, for at that height looked down
upon the object and instead of a serpent it
was floating trunk of tree. The up
raised head was large root, the name was
the smaller roots, the trunk tapering to its
top represented the body, and the ripping
waves running its length gave to it the
semblance Of the wriggling of serpent.
was astonished at the sight, and had not
gone aloft could have made oath that
saw the sea-serpent, and could have
described pretty clearly to the under
standing of the average person.