Year: 1879

WHILE talking over the incidents at


tending his cruise in the yacht Falcon,


on the Gulf of Mexico, the other day,


to a party of friends, including Trio


u,se reporter, Captain Peter Falcon, the


noted submarine diver, was asked II he


ever fell in with any, of those terribly


ugly-looking monsters of the sea-the


devil fsh-whose appearance SO many


writer's have given inadequate descrip-


tions Of As Captain Falcon remarked,


the devil fish must be seen in all its


horrible monstrosity to be fully appre-


ciated He would not attempt any de-


scription of one, but he told thrilling


narrative of the manner in which him


self and a companion captured one. IL


was about four p. m. on the "a OF last


May, when the Falcon stood off the


mouth of Tampa Bay. her only occu-


pants being her owner and master.


Captain Falcon, and Fred Dawson, OF


South Haven, Mich, who had accom-


panied the former on the cruise. Ine


trim and staunch little craft was BOWL
ing along at fair rate of speed, when
the Captain discovered half dozen
devil fish going over the surface OF tne


water faster than one of our harbor
tugs when running ' wide open" after
a tow. After repeated efforts to get


near one of the Mephistopheles OF the


Gulf, they finally succeeded in ap.


preaching within ten feet of fellow OF
fair size. and Captain Falcon seized
a harpoon, and, with q well-directed eff
fort, plunged it into the monster so far
that it penetrated its heart. Neverthe-
less, the big fish ran for deep water as
if the very Old Nick himself was In
him. The line attached to the harpoon
was paid out gradually, and the yacht
was plunging through the water with
an immense "bone in her mouth,
while in the wake of the flying mon
ster the seething and foaming sea was
discolored with the blood from the fatal
wound. The loss of blood weakened
the leviathan so that the Captain ana
his companion were enabled to cheek
him. and he was hauled up alongside
and raised sufficiently upon the surface
of the water to admit of q close obser-
walton. WELL" said the Captain,
bringing down his fist so as to express
the stronger his astonishment at the
sight, cit looked like the very devil
himself. His mouth measured thirty
two inches in width and was opened
eighteen inches. From tip to tip of his
suckers was sixteen feet, and about
the same length from the tip OF the
nose to the end of his tail, which was
three feet long. We cut him adrift and
let him go, thinking there was no life
in him, but he bobbed his head up and
down several times. Dawson said he
would like to strike one, and, after sew
eral attempts, we succeeded in getting
alongside of one of the biggest of the
school. Fred drove the harpoon through
the rear part of the fellow, and he
came up on the starboard side and pre-
sented himself in all his hideousness.
I tell you he looked like the devil him.
self. as have been led to believe his
Satanic Majesty appears, and he ran
furiously and fast, taking the Falcon
along at the rate of about twenty miles
an hour. We paid out the line and let
him go ADJOINING, and when he got to
the end of the seventy-fiye fathoms-
the length of the ine-he snapped it
like thread and sped on out of sight.
Why, believe that fellow had suck
ers' fully twenty-four feet across, and
he was awful to look Chicago
Tribune.