The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1918-09-18
BESSIE, The SEA COW
Now On Exhibition at the Foot Of
Market Street, On Captain Thomp-
sons Magnificent Twin
Screw Boat.

Second only in interest to the big
fish itself, which is attracting several
thousands of visitors to Capt. Thomp-
sons yacht at the river front, foot of
Market street, is the captains mar
velous marine exhibit, which is con-
sidered by many who have seen 1t to
be one of the finest and most COM
plete private collections in America.
Among the many rare specimens is
the actopus, one of the most repulsive
creatures imaginable; a devil fish,
hammerhead shark, angel fish, giant
sail fish with sail two and one-half
feet wide; giant baracoute over sew
en- feet long and that weighed 140
pounds, with mouth and teeth large
enough to bite a mans arm off, to say
nothing of hundreds of other marvels
of the great deep, all of which are
| shown in their natural form and COL
ors.
B far the most interesting specimen,
| however, is Bessie, the sea COW, who
Is now making her home on board of
Capt Thompson's yacht. Bessie was
recently captured near Eau Gallie,
Fla, and is probably one of the lar
gest specimens now in captivity. Ac-
cording to government authorities, the
sea COW, or manatee, has become al
most extinct, and there are probably
not more than 100 in existence
| There is always a crowd around the
tank in which she disports herself,
and many are the amusing comments
| made by some of those who never
seem to tire of watching her to see
what she is going to do next.
| Another singular specimen of the
collection is the baby hammerhead
| shark, with the singular elongated
head fhom which it derives it's name.
The eyes are situated on the extreme
outer edge of the hammer" so that
it can cover an unusually wide range
of vision The hammerheads grow to
a length of Is feet and bring forth
their young alive.
Few creatures of the sea have more
horrible appearance than the octopus
about which some of the most grue-
some stories ever written have been
told. Another interesting specimen of
marine life is the giant sail fish. Cap
tain Thompson's specimen is one of
the largest ever captured on the east
coast, measuring seven feet in length
! Other specimens are a giant sword
fish, giant Jewish, leather fish, dol
phins, amber jack, parrot fish, porcu-
pine, fish and others too numerous to
mention, all of which are the finest
specimens obtainable and in a perfect
state of preservation.
The tiger or man-eating shark, OF
which Capt. Thompson has very fine
specimen, is the terror of the seas
growing to a length of thirt feet They
inhabit the warm waters of the trop-
les and often ascend the gulf stream
to more northerly ATTITUDES, where
they are menace to bathers in sum-
mer.
Capt Thompson's monster fish
which is better known as the deep
Sea Mystery" is declared by scientists
to he the largest fish ever captured
lin the history of the world. 1t is Gre
ating a wonderful interest and dis
cussion among all classes, and 1t is
conservatively estimator that 1t will
be seen by at least $4,000 people while
here.
This unique collection of marine
life is now on exhibition in Maysville
on board the yacht Tamiami, anchor
ed at river front, foot of Market
street