Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1913-09-27

/GM with the sea serpent have
I8O1M been played by magma
~ tive travellers, who have
NJ, y described and sketched
[sS the modern saurian,
that the very name OF the
brute is avoided by all but the brave.
To say that you have seen the sea
serpent is to put with your own tongue
a blot on your own character. SKIP
pers who have beheld the monster
have made no entry OF the fact III
their log book lest they be derided
when their vessels are snug IN port
Nauralsts have hemmed and hawed
in their writings regarding IL Poets
have been reticent upon the theme
. all except John Milton. whose remarks
upon Leviathan in Paradise Lost
rave been construed by "a modern au-
pority to mean Sea Serpent pure and
imple. For a century the scientific
.orId has looked at sea serpents
skance
And vet there is one professional
cid in life whose members have sup
oiled more data concerning sea ser.
penis and given more profuse informal
ton in regard TO them than all the
shippers and travellers who have ever
circled the globe From the earliest
times il has remained for the ministry
to supply us with our greatest number
OF facts regarding the marine de-
scendant of Adams happiness. Dea-
cons. priests and bishops have seen
sea serpents galore, and there are on
file the names of at least dozen cier-
ical men who are involved in the COILS
of sea serpent stories, from Oiaus
; Nagnus. the archbishop of Upsala'
down to Rev. P w. Demboldt arch
deacon of Mode; Rev. William jerks,
Rev. Alden Bradford, Rev. Mr.. Cum
mings of Sullivan. and Rev AleXan-
, der Maclean. all good names and non
est some of them from puritanicai
New England
The bishop Of POntopiddan, another
worthy divine. believed implicitly in
, sea serpents. and even altered the de-
, scriptions and drawings of other men
to crafty his own enthusiasm In re-
gard TO them. The bishop of Ponto-
hidden. who lived in the middle OF the
: eighteenth century, advanced the the
= ory that the mermaids of medlaeVai
lore were nothing more nor less IMAM
sea COWS that browse upon salt water
: greens with their front fippers and
Z open their mouths sideways. But IN
regard to sea serpents the bishop was
: not so skeptical He described them
n on hearsay as numerous. lengthy and
It terrible, often 100 feet in length, pos
e sibly 500, with eyes as large as pc
4 ter plates, lilac or blue in color. an6
2, sometimes fiery red with anger.
e The good divine even made jour
ney down the Scandinavian coast tt
y investigate a tale that tableclot
Is had been made by a tisherman's fam
r ily from the skin of = sea serpen
n which the reptile had sloughed off Il
s, the pleasant waters of the harbor o
ly Kobberveug The bishop was homes
" enough to state that he had bee
so gulled in this respect, hut did not alte
Is his opinion regarding sea serpents i
is general The illustration in his boo
showing a sea serpent reared on HI
q. tail, squirting profuse gallons or VIZ
ar ter out of his snout, was drawn an
ba exaggerated by the bishop of Pontopit
ga dan from the sketch made by Bins
~ who had forever immortalized a sc
40 serpent beheld by Hans Egede. 1t
- notable that Hans Egede was himse
- an evangelist, whose work as a mi
- sionary was taking him to the wild
- of Greenland when the sea serpent a.
- peared before him.
CLAUS Magnus, the archbishop of VI
sala, writes at length of sea serpen
:. ascribing to it length of 200 feet an
"A a girth of 20. and stating the belief
of the sailors of his time regarding
ue how it was fond of calves and shee
and swine, and used to snap the sc
men from the decks of their own We
sells.
OF Rev. Mr.. Cummings of Sullivan d
err scribes a whopping sea serpent TIL
of he saw not far from Long Island
.JuIy of 1908 Thirty-seven yea
ate later another divine, Rev. Z. w. Del
ers boldt, made the startling stateme
100 that not only had he seen the sea Sc
'ue Dpnt Ill the water near MS uoLne
go, the Norwegian coast, but that he b;
ses shot at it with musket and evident
les, wounded II quite badly, from the RI
pip ton that took place in the water aftt
ward
Ind Rev. Alexander Maclean, who foI
len ished at about the same time as Re
ost Mr. Cummings, observed off the islal
up of Coll what he first called. In
A clerical manner, an object" 1t 6
ma peared like small rock. he said, b
the after looking at it for some time
the saw it elevated above the surface
the sea and move in his direction wi
cas- a measured and dignitied motion.
8 OF intense alarm the minister steered
All shore. with the sea serpent appace
to " pursuing him. 1t drew so near II
idle
q