Evening star., 1935-10-20
The Travellers Notebook
By Jacques Futrelle, Jr.

creased the haunting suspicion Of hoax.
Out of ante-bellum memories came a
tale and the denoument OF the Silver
Lake monster that set New York State
agog in 1855. Some strange thing had
appeared in the lake, located in
Wyoming County, and as the story Of
the mystery spread, thousands jour-
neyed to the resort.to see it. 1t had
a captivating way of rising from the
depths at strategic times, then would
pique the curiosity by vanishing again.
The show went on for weeks, until a
skeptical person was bold enough to
shoot it. The thing collapsed and was
captured, and a Barnumesque gag ex-
ploded. The large monster was huge,
inflated sack of rubber, manipulated
by wires.
The writer asked If perhaps the Loeb
Ness creature was not publicity hoax
to attract tourists.
Put testimony for the sea monster
theory grew. 1t was then that a
ships officer revealed the log of the
Cunard liner Mauretania bore picture
Of creature, born, as it were, to the
specifications Of fifteenth century
tales. Modern liners would hardly
squeeze down its gullet. but its fang
like teeth, its fiat. british nose, glaring
eyes and droopy whiskers gave it
terrible appearance. The picture was
drawn by Senior First Officer
Moughtin, and alongside is the entry
he made January 80, 1884: Sighted
sea monster. Headed SW. 1:20 pm"
The ship was off st. Eustatius
Island in the Caribbean" Moughtin
later explained to newspaper reporters:
Il sighted it of the starboard bow.
At first I thought it was a whale or a
whistling grampus, but soon saw it
was too large. Its head was six feet
out of water. I could see at least As
feet of the body, which was about two
feet thick. 1t must have been IS feet
over all. 1t was a shiny black.
Il have no doubt that this was a sea
serpent of the type written about for
hunoreds of years. 1t may have been
the offspring of the one reported of
Queenstown by Sir Arthur Rostron on
July IL, 1907, when he was chief off,
Ger Of the Campania."
| AS LATE as November, 1884, the
monster controversy ragged. The
last important round seems to have
been won by science in that month
when DR.. w. A. Clemens, director of
the biological station at Naniano
British Columbia, identified a sea
monster found on Henry Island as
a baSking or waX-noSe shark. These
fish DR.. Clemens explained, grow to
be 36 feet long, and their skulls are
so soft that they lose their shape when
out of the water. The strange mon
sters washed up on the shores of
France in 1884 were identified as
basking sharks. The sharks hardly
/ fit the detailed descriptions of the
creatures reported seen. Perhaps they
are waiting for an auspicious time to
reappear. All has been quiet on the
sea serpent front this year.
CCRIBBLINGS: New York City.
proposed 10000 900 exposition fol
1889 will be its first since the Crystal
Palace Fair of 1853-54.
Melbourne, Fla, is known as the
Midway City. 1t is halfway between
Jacksonville and Miami.
Only one variety of fish thrives in
South Americas Lake Titicaca. Ef-
forts to introduce sea-level fish have
failed. They can't stand the altitude
1900 feet above the ocean.
English is taught in the schools oi
Finland and American travellers find
it helpful
Petra-the "rose-red city half as
old as time"-in the 'Trans-Jordon
is approached through the Six, a two
mile-long gorge of rock varying from
40 to 10 feet wide. The walls are
100 to 500 feet high. The ruined
city was carved from living rock
which, colored red, purple and yellow
catch the rays of the rising and sink
ing sun to present an amazingly
spectacular beauty.
The superliner Normandie will dis.
appear from the Atlantic during thu
Winter. Plans call for her resumine
her trips early next March.