STRANGE PHENOMENON.

Kumara Times, Issue 1167, 25 June 1880, Page 3

STRANGE PHENOMENON.

The following account has been furbished by Commander R% E. Harris, of the A.S.N. Company's steamer Shah Jehan, dated Calcutta, January 21st:— '* The most remarkable phenomenon that I have ever witnessed at sea was Been by myself and officers on the f>th instant, between Oyster Reef and Pigeon Island (Malabar coast). At 10 p.m., we were steaming along very comfortably ; there was a perfect calm, the water was without a ripple upon it, the sky was cloudless, and, there being ho moon, the stars shone brightly. The atmosphere Was beautifully clear, and the night was one of great quietude. At the above named hour I went on deck, and at once observed a streak of white matter on the horizon bearing S.S.W. I then went on to the bridge and drew the third officer's attention to it. In a few minutes it had assumed the shape of a segment of a circle measuring about 45 degrees in length and several degrees in altitude about its centre. As this time it shone with a peculiar but beautiful milky whiteneas, and resembled (only in a huge mass and greater lumiuou.4 intensity) the nebulae sometimes seen in the heavens. We were steaming to the southward, and as the bank of light extended, one ot its arms crossed our path. The whole thing appeared so foreign to anything I had ever seen, and so wonderful that I stopped the ship just on its outskirts, so that I might try to form a true and just conception of What it really was. By this time all the officers and engineers hud assembled on deck to witness the scene, and were all equally astonished and interested. Some little time before the first body of light reached the ship I was enabled with my night glasses, to resolve in a measure what appeared, to the unassisted eye, a huge mass of nebulous matter. I distinctly saw spaces between, what appeared to be, waves of light of great lustre; These came rolling on with ever-increasing rapidity till they reached the ship, and in a short time the ship was completely surrounded with one great body of undulating light) which soon extended to the horizon on all sides. On looking into the water it was seen to be studded with patches of faint, luminou- 1 , inanimate matter, measuring ahout two feet in "diameter, Although these emitted a certain amount of light, it was most insignificant when compared with the great waves of light that was floating on th£ surface of the water, and which were at this time converging upon the ship. The Waves stood many degrees above the water, like a highly luminous mist, and obscured by their intensity the distant horizon; and as wave succeeded wave in rapid succession, one of the most grand and brilliant, yet solemn spectacles that one could ever think of was here witnessed. In speaking of waves of light, I do not wish to convey the idea that they were ripplings, which are sometimes caused by fish passing through a phosphorescent sea, but waves of great length and breadth, or, in other words, great bodies of light. If the sea could be converted into a huge mirror, and thousands of powerful electric lights were made to throw their rays across it, it would convey no adequate idea of this strange yet grand phenomenon. As the waves of light converged upon the ship from all sides they appeared higher than her hull, and looked as if they were about to envelop her, her sides seemed to collapse and expand. Whilst this was going on the ship was perfectly at rest, and the water was like a millpond. During the last eighteen years I have navigated nearly every little comer of th 3 Asiatic shores from Suez to the north of China and Japan, but never have I witnessed anything at all resembling what I have tried, but feathave not been able to pourtray. I have seen many seas beautifully illumined with phosphorus, but in this case Ihere was a total absence of it. No indication of it appeared as the ship divided the water with her stein, nor did any appear in her wake. This point was carefully gone into and disi cussed at the time, and special obser- '**" vations made at diffeient parts of the ship. After about half an hour had elapsed the brilliancy of the light somewhat abated, and theie was a givat, paucity of the faint lustrous pitches which I have before referred to; but still the body of light was great, and, if emanating from these patches, was out of all proportion to their number. Such a rate phenomenon, I think, deserves some little attention. It was no ordinary sight, nor chimerical dream,

but there it was, about and above the water, a truly great terrestrial galaxy (if I maj' be allowed the expression), of unequalled splendour. This light, I do not think, could have been produced without the agency of electro-magnetic currents, exercising their exciting influence upon some organic animal or vegetable substance : and one thing I wish to point out is, that while the ship was stopped and the light yet some distance away, nothing was discernible in the water; batassoon as light reached the ship a number of luminous patches presented themselves, and as these were equally as motionless as the ship at the time, it is only natural to assume that thpy existed, and were actually in our vicinity before the light reached us, only they were not made visible till they became the transmitting media for the electro magnetic currents. This hypothesis is borne out by the fact that each wave of light in its passage was distinctly seen to pass over them in succession, and as the light gradually became less brilliant, they also became less distiner, and had actually disappeared so soon as the waves of light ceased to exist.