Year: 1870

An officer of the royal mail steamer
Shannon writes to Nature an account
of n phenomenon which he says has
been repeatedly noticed in the har-
Dor of Greytown, Nicaraugua. he
says


Owing to a shallow bar, vessels can
not enter the harbor or river, and are
therefore Obliged to anchor in from
seven to eight fathoms of water,
two miles from the beach, the bottom
consisting of heavy dark sand and
mud containing much vegetable mat
ter brought down by the river. Now
while at anchor in this situation, we
hear. commencing with a marvellous
punctuality at about midnight, pc
culiar metallic vibratory sound OF
sufficient loudness to awaken a great
portion of the ships crew, however
tired they may be after a hard days
work. This sound continues for
about two hours with one or two
very short intervals. 1t was first
noticed some few years ago IN the
iron built vessels; Wye, Tyne, Elder
and Danube. 1t has never been
heard on board the coppered-
wooden vessels, Trent, Thames, Tam
ar or Solent. These were steamers
formerly employed on the branch of
the companye's inter-colonial service,
and when any of their officers or crew
told of the wonderful music heard ON
board at Greytown, it was generally
treated as a ''yarn" or hoax. Well
for the last two years the company's
large transatlantic ships have
called at Greytown, and remained
there for from five to six days. We
have thus all had ample opportunity
of hearing for ourselves. When first
heard by the negro sailors they were
more frightened than astonished, and
they at once gave way to superstitious
| fears of ghosts and Obeibism. BY
English sailors it was considered to
be caused by the trumpet fish, or
what they called such certainly not
the centriScuS scoLOpdr, which does
not even exist here). They invented
a fish to account for it. But if caused
by any kind of fish, why only at one
place, and why only at certain hours
of the night? Everything is as still
on board from two to four as rom
twelve to two o'clock. yet the sound
is heard from twelve to two, but not
between two and four. The ship is
undoubtedly one of the principal in
struments of its production. She is
in fact for the time being converted
into q great musical sounding-board.
1t is by no means easy to describe
this sound, and each listener give
q somewhat different account of it.


1t is musical, metallic, with one.
two, three time tendency of beat. 1t
is heard most distinctly over open
hatch-ways, over the engine room,
through the coal-shoots, and close
around the outside of the ship 1t
cannot be fixed in any one place, al
ways appearing to recede from the
observer. On applying the ear to the
side of an open bunker, one fancies
that it is proceeding from the very
bottom of the hold.


Very different were the comparisons
made by the different listeners. The
blowing of conch shell by fishermen
at a distance, a shell held to the ear,
an eolian harp, the whirr or buZzing
sound of wheel machinery in rapid
motion, the vibration of large bell
when the first and louder sound has
ceased, the echo of chimes in the bel
fry, ricocheting of a stone on ice, the
wind blowing over telegraph wires,
have all been assigned as bearing a
more or less close resemblance it is
louder on the second than the first,
and reaches its acme on the third
night: calm weather and smooth
water favor its development. The
ripping of the water alongside and
the breaking of the surf on the
shore are heard quite distinct from
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