Evening star., 1939-02-19

legends. The Greek Pliny tells of a
monster 100 feet long that gave
Regulus and his army stiff battle.
Aristotle wrote of sea monsters
and Grecian urns have been found
with sea serpents sculptured on
them.
In 1855 Scandinavian archbishop
wrote that "navigators of all sorts in
Norwegian waters agree that a sea
serpent 200 feet long and 20 feet
thick lives in the caves and rocks
of the sea coast about Bergen. He
leaves his aquatic lair in clear sum-
mer nights, and, going ashore, de-
YOURS calves, lambs and hogs. At
other times he goes seward and
feeds on Holsters, octopuses and
crabs. He has, commonly, hair
hanging from his neck a cubit long
sharp scales and is black, and he has
flaming, shining eyes Magnus gives
an illustration which shows a sea
serpent seizing a sailor from the
deck Of a Ship (This one evidently
wasn't as bashful as some of the
others)
Monster Is Shot.
I The next appearance of note is
that of the Pontoppidan monster
Pontoppidan, famous old bishop OF
Bergen. who was at first skeptical
of the monsters existence, later be-
came convinced. He cites the case
of Capt. de Ferry who shot q
monster in August, 1746, but lost il
when the creature dove. THE heac
of the snake, which it held more
than feet above the surface of the
water, resembled that of a horse
1t was of a grayish color, and the
mouth was quite black and very
large. 1t had black eyes and a long
white name that hung down from
the neck to the surface of the
water
One of the most famous of sea
monsters was the serpent sighted by
her majestys ship Daedalus in
October, 1888, while cruising from
the Cape of Good Hope to st.
Helena. According to Capt. Nc
Quhae, the creature passed rapidly,
but so close under our lee quarters
that had it been a man of my
acquaintance, I should easily have
recognized his features with the
naked eye; and it did not, either in
approaching the ship or after it had
passed our wake, deviate in the
slightest degree from its course
which it held on at the pace of
from IL to Is miles per hour, ap-
parently on some determined pur-
pose. Its color was brown and
yelloWish- white about the throat.
It had no fins, but something like
the name of a horse. or rather q
bunch of seaweed, washed about its
back"
The ship Pauline, from Shields to
Zanzibar, in 1875 saw three large
sperm whales, one of which was
gripped around the body by two
turns of what appeared to be a
huge serpent. The monster whirled
it's victim round and round for about
Is minutes, then suddenly dragged
the whale to the bottom, head first.
Residents Are Warned.
Undoubtedly the most renowned
monster of recent years was the
Loeb Ness serpent. Messy who
crashed the front pages in 1882,
was possibly the only sea monster
ever to obtain official recognition.
On December 8, 1892, Sir Godfrey
Collins, secretary of state for Scot
land, authorized Inverness police to
warn residents and visitors that the
creature, if sighted, must not on
any pretext be molested, shot or
trapped"
In spite of Sir Godfrey's warn
ing, however, rewards were soon
offered for Nessys capture. The
New York Geological Park was will
ing to give s25OOO if the serpent
were delivered Cd alive. CD healthy,
90 at least 40 feet long.
In London, a circus operator did
even better with an offer of $780,
600 (also subject to a few condi-
tions).
In all, over 100 persons, including
many OF unimpeachable integrity.
caught a glimpse of the Loeb Ness
wlll-o-the-wisp during the four or
five years following its discovery.