CAPTAIN GRUNDY’S STORY.

Patea Mail, 28 October 1880, Page 4

CAPTAIN GRUNDY’S STORY.

Captain Grnmly of the clipper schooner Torea Inis seen an octopus of marvellous size. Here is the tale told in his own words. “Wo were off Cape Egmont, when the man at the wheel drew my attention to what he said was rocks breaking. I thought the object had more the appearance of a wreck, and knowing that there was a vessel missing named the Poneko, I hauled up to inspect it. On nearing it 1 still thought it was the wreck ol the vessel, but on approaching pretty close I was astonished beyond measure to observe a flock of birds picking at the body—not of a wreck—but the carcase of some marine monster. On standing close up, I perceived it to be an enormous octopus, a species of which Iliad previously caught young ones. The arms of the latter were only twelve feet long, its body smaller in proportion, but the gigantic carcase floating in the water balUos description. Its huge size so impressed me with wonder that 1 called up the crew and we ran alongside. The carcase stood nine feet out of water. It was fully thirty feet across, and the feelers or arms floating on the surface of thr sea were each fully fifty feet long, and as they rose and fell with the swell wore horrible to gaze upon.