FIGHT BEIWEEN DEEP SEA MONSTERS.

Evening Star, Issue 11068, 21 October 1899, Page 4 (Supplement)

FIGHT BEIWEEN DEEP SEA MONSTERS.

Never before has it fallen to my lot to witness the terrible monster we encountered on the last passage from San Francisco toward Nanaimo in the barque Willscott, of Honolulu, says Captain Thomas Peabodv, of the barque Willscot. We knew that the octopus grew to an immense size, as Banks and Solander, who accompanied Captain Cook in his first voyage around the world, found the dead carcass of one floating in the water to the westward of Cape Horn. It was supposed to be twenty bv thirty vfeet, the body only; the tentacles were hanging under water. It was surrounded by myriads of birds, which were feeding greedily on its remains. Pliny also mentions a similar monster-having eight arms thirty feet long and a corresponding girth ; and many other writers, too numerous to mention, have certified to its actual existence. But I did not believe that anything similar to the terrible " devil fish " described by Victor Hugo was reallv in existence until I had ocular demonstration of the fact. I will quote our log book in relation to the monster we saw : —Saturday, May 18, latitude 30deg 30min north, longitude 136deg 40min west. Light breeze from north by east; dry, cloudy weather ; smooth sea, except for the usual slight undulating swell from the north-west. Ship under all sail, braced sharp upon the starboard tack, geing five knots per hour, but scarcely making a ripple on the water. At 2.30 p.m. my attention was called by the quartermaster, Frank Bastast, of San Diego, Cal., to a terrible commotion in the water about three points, forward of the lee beam. Our first thought was that it must be breakers in an uncharted reef, but while we were watching the breaking of the water ceased. Then we could distinctly see the outlines of two objects on the surface, one much larger than the other. We at once got our telescope to bear on them, and discovered the smaller of the two was a very large sunflsh, a curiously-shaped fish —all head and no body—having no tail, but J

an upper and lower fin, with ■which it propels itself about in a verjr lazy fashion. It appeared to be fully 12ft in -diameter, and* judging from smaller ones*we have caught, toUKt have weighed thre*"thousand pound?, it appeared/to be enclejs|jjjring to keep far* on (o its adversary. wMch turned out to be a huge ocftopus, ihe length of whose bo ly was certainly 40ft, and the breadth about 25ft. with eight tentacles. We at on™ ordered ihe quartermaster to keep the ehip away four points so as to approach the objects more closely, and to our delight and surprise tbey remained stationary, regarding each other five- minutes, by which time we had advanced sufficiently close to make an accurate examination. Its eyes were large, of a greenish tint, and (somewhat protruding.; its mouth, however, was not so very large, and it appeared to be shaped like a parrot's bill ; t* tentacles were tapering, and, like its body, of a greyish color, corered/with spots. It appeared to possess the chameleonlike poTi r of changing the color of these spots in n most extraordinary manner as fast as the eye could detect the changes, no doubt indicating the high state of excitement under which the creature was laboring at the time. Suddenly the octopus discharged a huge jet of dark-colored fluid full into tie eyes of the sunfish, and then,-rushing forward with the rapidity of an arrow, it encircled its prey with its long tentacles, and in another moment the victor and vanquished had disappeared below the surface. In a few moments more we had sailed right over the scene, and found the water was colored almost black for the space of fully 200 ft in diameter, and we noticed an odo); slightly resembling iodine rising from the water; oiu patent 103 line of snow-white cotton, which was towing astern, was colored almost black, and it has not yet assumed its white freshness, although it has been towed in the water 800 miles since the above episode. About twenty minutes after we had passed over this spot we saw the huge creature again on the surface enjoying its meal in a very leisurely manner, rolling the body of the unfortunate sunfislu»ver and over and biting off large mouthfuls with its cruel-looking beak.—' San Francisco Call.'