AN AWFUL SIGHT.

Patea Mail, Volume I, Issue 71, 15 December 1875, Page 3

AN AWFUL SIGHT.

A horrible story is told in relation to the wreck of the* Schiller. One Franz Hauser lost his mother and two sisters on board the Schiller. He met with a terrible adventure in visiting the wreck, which terminated in his death, and he was buried in Penzance on the 11th of August last. Upon the news of lie wreck of the vessel first, jranbiug him. lie became so deeply rthv; d i hub he fell into a raging fever. 'vVhoi he became convalescent,, ho made inquiries whether the bodies of his relations had been found. He obtained no satisfactory information in any of the American

States, and at last resolved to make a personal effort oil tlie spot. Tie came across tlie ocean, and at once went to lUnzance. whore at last lie gained the c Ttaifrty that neither of tin* three corpses had been discovered. Thereupon, having some funds,- lie employed two experienced divers, purchased a complete diving armr’ur, and submitted to a course of training under t n- instruction of the two mni he had employed: As soon as able to move about under the water, and he got accustomed to the heavy suit, he d> termined to descend into tin-sea where the Schid r had gone down and search for his mother and sisters. Tic went to the -not. Several descents were made w thout success; though the remains of the vessel were seen, yet imhodi' Could be observed, But one day as the three men were silently moving about among sharp pointed crags and reefs, and being a considerable distance away from the wreck itself, Frank ilaiisir was startled by tlie sight of what appeared to he the head of a female form, it seemed to hang from the top of a reef some ten feet high. lie (IT.rted the attention of the others hy pointing towards it. Slowly the three stepped forward in the direction of the reef. Nearing the spot a pitiful ami heartrending scene presented itself. What was supposed to be a female head was such in reality, yet little of the body to which it belonged could be seen. The corpse was firmly held in the clutches of a giganticeuttle-lislpthat withits enormous arms and extended suckers, clung to it and to the sides of the rock like a wild beast feasting on its prey. The sight, say the two surviving divers, was shocking, yet awe-inspiring, They describe the cuttle-fish as having a circular central body that could nut be less than four foot in diameter, of a greenish-hlaek hue, with alternate bright and dark spots and a slimy surface. It was mumled like a dome, and it seemed as if a portion of the human body had been absorbed into it hy the tremendous power of suction the monster is believed to possess, its arms—the divers counted eight—were apparently of immense strength, being over twelve feet long, and judged to he not less than a foot in diameter where they joined the body. Some of those arms clung to the m'lfoitunnto victim, others held last to the protuberances of the rock, while sofrtc were swinging through the water like the trunk of an elephant, but twice its size. Such was the view tlie three divers had as they approached this reef, and Franz Hauser made a sudden spring forward towards it; hut he was held hack. His associates knew that by going any nearer they would expose themselves to attack from the monster, for which they were unprepared. They gave the signal to the boat and all three

were immediately hoisted up. Having tin! covering removed from his head. Franz Hauser declared that he had recognised in the female face, one of his sisters, and be was determined to descend again to rescue her body from being devoured by the submarine monster. His wish Wits not gratified, however, he being too nervous, feelings quite unstrung, and bis strength too much exhausted ; and it was agreed to make an attempt the next day after But in the morning he was delirious, and he lingered on in a paroxysmal condition for some days, till death closed his eyes. Tho two survivors of his expedition under the sea have sworn statements of the truth of these facts, and it is believed that some presentation has been sent to the British authorities of tho Admiralty for a complete and through scientific search of the entire vicinity of the Retorrior ledge of rocks to ascertain whether these tremendous creatures do feed on human victims of shipwreck.