The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1919-03-23
States Naval
to Discuss the
Fantastic
Possibilities
If Encounters
Between Ships
and Gigantic
-. Octopuses

IT,
9TFHE disappearance of the great United
States naval collier Cyclops during
n the year 1918 has now been ranked
among the famous unexplained mysteries
of tie sea, like the fate Of the crew OF the
brig Marie Celeste and many another
=, ocean tragedy.
- The Cyclops, a ship of $4,000 tons, sailed
from Barbados in the West Indies IN
II March 4 last on war duty and has never
been reported since. This great steel snip,
"iWt1h all her crew and arms and equpmeE.,
-aheT, wireless and her boats has vanished
from the seas just as feeble sailing ships
t9ddfd in ancient times when the ocean was
1aSnqmcharted wilderness.
Nv order of the Navy Department all
.aEaiIable naval craft In Southern waters
have been making a dragnet for the ship,
but steadily the conviction grows among
-tbffcials that the great modern mystery OF
WAthes sea win remain unsolved.
DDS Cruisers and patrol boats have retraced
TIE route Of the collier: Every islah9
81 a16onR the scores that dot that portion OF
the sea has been carefully scrutinized Tor
sifsny clue But unremitting search has
ssYaiied TO disclose any trace Of ship appar-
Gently ulucked in a moment from the busy
i lanes of the Southern American trade
o. rontes.
5IS5 What can have happened to the Cyclops!
George Noble, q writer in the National
9IMarfne magazine, after discussing various
fisursgested xplanations-sinking by Ger
5 man submarine destruction by ueachery,
us caDsizing In a storm, etc.-takes up the
Win6st startling possibility Of all-that some,
lid AFT least Of the vanished ships 81 the past
Sand, perhaps, the Cyclops may nave oWeo
sdtheir doom to gigantic cuttleftsh, specimens
~ n attain
-Dli35 feet.
90 about the only possible explanation IN
-sJFansbIe of contradiction" says this writer,
5 sis that GaFgantuan squids-monster cut
-s-tiefish-treated Of in fiction and IN fact'
bsf1ay have reared themselves out OF the sea
5OiAnd. instead of winding their tentacles
-nisround the bulls and rigging and crushing
stIFhe structures to matchwood before drag
-1sging II to their lair at the bottom, may
shave helped themselves to the ships peo-
ba6ie as delicately and effectually as one
-nitfucks gooseberries off a bush-then sunk
out of sight and left scarcely ripple De-
schind."
-iL8ebredations by gigantic cuttlehsh or octo-
y7puses in the region where the Cyclops was
yGlosf:
IL, aaThe French writer, Denys de Montfort,
sggraveIy declares that six men-ot-war cap
situred from the French by Admiral Rooney
T9fn the west l00lCS, April L. 4tOGS IOSCILoA
rsrith four British ships detached from the
.g7seet as a convoy, were suddenly engulfed
s4bv colossal cuttlefshes. He also records
.es statement of Captain Jean Magnus Deus
by repute a respectable and veracious
rdnan, a trader to China, Of an instance
s1,Hhen the captain was becalmed and nav
a. ing his vessels bottom painted while cross
ling from St Helena to Cape Negro.
e.. 'sThe story runs that three men were
,,staudfng on planks slung over the side
-,owhen an enormous cuttlefish rose from the
water and threw one OF its arms around
two Of the sailors, whom it tore away with
the scaffolding on which they stood. With
another arm it seized the third man, who
held on tightly to the rigging and screamed
for help. His shipmates ran to his assist
aDce and succeeded in rescuing him by cut
Ting away the creatures arms with axes
Il and knives. but he died delirious on the
following night.
-nB ''The captain tried to save the other two
lcsailors by killing the animal, and drove
several haTpoons into it, but they broke
'nSWSy and the men were carried down by
.Gthe monster. The arm cut of was said to
sTbave been twenty-five feet long and as
-Iahick as the mizzen yard and to have had
-s0n 1t suckers as big as saucepan lids"
tisi Undoubtedly the theory that the CyclOps
-1may have been attacked by an octopus
-rBresents some difficulties. 1t could hardly
be claimed that one or more of these crea-
iiEures, however gigantic, could sink great
bSteei steamship, as they are said to have
.fbImk various old sailing ships.
IN The Cyclops, If attacked or INSTRUCTED
byiAny number Of cuttle6sh, could have
zRteamed away from them. But it may be
btmagined that she became disabled through
7sengine trouble or some other accident and
-zGhat while rolling helpless in the trough
TaOf, the sea the monsters threw their arms
cover the deck in the manner described and
GE9Tied all or many Of the crew overheard
SIN their dreadful clutches.
III The ship, thus left helpless, would then
THave more easily foundered in a heavy
sBea and gale and thus have vanished COM
pletely, leaving not a trace behind.
So Many other theories have been advanced
n4oa account for the disappearance Of the
.rGyCiops, but none Of them is quite con-
sEinEing.
lsA-SWas she blown into fragments by a
. heavy charge Of explosives placed in her