Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-04-06
TALES OF THE OLD-TIMEz SAILING SHIPS

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when the Daedalus frigate.
Captain MQuhae which arrived
here plymouth OFF the 4th Inst,
was on her passage home from
the East fndies. between the Cape
of-Good Hope and St. Helena. her
captain and most of her officers
and crew. at o'clock one after
noon saw a sea serpent. The
creature was twenty minutes in
sight Of the frigate and passed
under her quarter Its head APP
peared to be about four feet out
of the water, and there was about
SO feet OF its body on the surface
in straightliHe.- II is calculated
that there must have been under
water a length Of so or 40 feet
more by which it propelled itself
at the rate of fifteen miles an
hour The diameter of the eXv
posed part of the body was about
16 inches and-when il extended
its jaws, which were full of
large, jagged teeth, they seemed
sufficiently capacious to admit
tail man standing upright be
tween them. The ship was sailing
North at the rate of eight miles
an hour The Daedalus left Cape
Of Good Hope on the 30th of July.
and reached st. Helena on the
10th of August"
Well sir, that caused quite a
splash in England Everybody
tried to prove that the Daedalus
hadn't seen anything Then they
tried pEaGa.-tAa+ II 1--e. e-fii -
sea serpent. But all the officers
had seen the beast, and they all
agreed on its description. One Of
the best scientists of the time
figured that it was a giant squid
or octopus or kraken. swimming
along on the surface Of the water
So you see there are mighty
strange things on the face Of the
ocean. And next time when a
sailor tells of a sea serpent don't
be too sure he'd splieed the main
brace before he saw it.
OF course. I don't mean to say
~ that all yarns Of the sea are
true. oh no. I've heard some
scorchers in my time But the
strange thing is that most or all
of them have some grain of truth
about which the yarn is wove.
I've heard the yarn many times
of the fellow who was towed by
shark and rode a turtle back
TO his ship. But some time ago
l heard the yarn from which that
one stemmed and here it is:
Dick Trysail was a hand in the
Durindarte of Boston, Captain
Armstrong, sailing for Maranhao.
Brazil. They We're off French
Guiana, and Dick. thinking of a
change from the vessels pint and
pound. was down on the martin
gale under the bowsprit with a
harpoon, waiting for a chance to
stick a porpoise. He had a four
pronged grainse and let it go at a
likely fish as 1t diyed under him.
but missed and fell in the drink
No one knew he was there so
when ne yelled the ship was some
distance away But a hand
dropped a chicken coop overheard
and they wore ship But at that
moment a squall came up and the
ship had 10 run before it, leaving
Dick clinging 10 the chicken coop
and praying hard as he could go
BY nightfal the Durindarte
was out Of sight and Dick float
ing alone IN the middle of Tire
ocean. But the water WAS warm
and he felt sure they'd sight him
by daylight. But when day came
there was nothing in sight but a
thin line far to the west that
meant land. But IL vas toe far
te think of swimming there and
the coop was an unhandy mess
that couldn't be navigated
Then Dick got the shock Of his
life. for a whacking great shark
nosed alongside and rolled to take
his foot Making fast the harpoon
line TO the chicken coop Dick
stood by to defend himself. and
next time that shark swung
alongside he drove the thing with
all his power into the brute's
back. There was an awful furry
but the shark couldn't drag those
barbs out Immediately ne made
off with about eight fathom OF
line towing Dick like a sand scow.