A SEA SERPENT STORY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1376, 21 October 1886, Page 3

A SEA SERPENT STORY.

The following story, which it will be admitted eclipses that of the Auckland amphibious monster, is told by a cirres pendent of the Sydney Town and Country Journal :— . , , . “ And now, as we had been wondering a few minutes previously whether there was any truth In the stories which had so often been told of “ The Great Sea Serpent," Mr Ohllds volunteered his expel fence in the matter. He had not only seen “ the serpent,” he had been in peril of his life from the brute ; and that, as ha remarked, not very far from the spot where we were then reposing, and where he was “ lying ” in every sense of the word From his statement, which I here present for the benefit of the British Association, should any of its members ever visit New South Wales, It appeared that he had once been the crew of h small cutter which sailed from Sydney for George s River with a oarco of bricks. Besides himself there were a captain and a boy on board The wind, though light, was contrary ; and directly they cleared the South Head, and made a tack ont seaward, the great sea serpent, a fearful monster, came at them open mouthed, exhibiting a capacity to swallow cutter, crew, and cargo at one gnlph. For some reason re did not do this at once ; hu- he played aroundlthe doomsd oraft, exhibiting his terrible length, which Ihe narra or estimated at a mile, though ho admitted that in his fright he might have exaggerated a yard or two. This interval of recreation IT., availed of by the captain, a man of resource, in devising means for their salvation. He placed a number of bricks In the galley fire, and when the monster came up at last in a manner which indicated business and no mistake, a red-hot brick was popped into its open month This caused it to diva with a roar of pain like that which Mr Childs assured us bh elephant might give. Presently the serpent came at them again, cooled and determined, and was again got rid of by means of a hot brick. And again and again did that great sea serpent return for his victims : and again sud again was ho beaten off But as the brnto got accustomed to hot bricks, so the intervals between bis attacks become shorter and shorter, and in the meantime the cutter had to be worked, and the snoply of heated bricks maintained. 'tt'he captain, crew, and boy worked harder and harder, and just as th'ir last brick had been flung out they ran the cutter ashore close to where we were then listening to the story ; and Mr Ohllds and bis companions jumped on the beach, ran a tew yards, and. finding themselves in safety, fainted. The cutter, her cargo having been disposed of, was flying light, and grounded so close to the shore and in such shallow water that the-serpent could not get near enough to It to destroy It; and so he swam away with the whole cargo of bricks In Jiig stomach. A.nd that is tho halo of “ The Great Sea Serpent” which I heard on the shores of Botany Bay.