SEA MONSTERS THAT SINK SHIPS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 317, 16 January 1908, Page 4

SEA MONSTERS THAT SINK SHIPS.

An extraordinary affair hapjiened the other dav in the estuary of the Shannon, the yacht Water Hen being capsized and sunk by a school oi giant porpoises, who were blindly pursuing -ome salmon. The lowil papers, in reporting the occurrence, s|ieak of it as unique-, but this is not quite so. since no longer■ ago than .Iniv, iwr>, the -mack .lean ltoy was wrecked in a precisely similar fashion while trawling ill the North Sea. Then, Of course, there are numerous well-authenticated instances of ships be'ijff charged and sunk by wliales. jhu-, ,1,7. T)aiu-h w-liooner Anna was rammed i,, a hundred--foot monster in mid-ocean vhile on a vovage from Iceland to New lininswicl; not long since, and had licr ,«,«■- -iovc in. the ciev being rescue,! in the nick of time by the Liverpool liner In this in-lancc. according to the story * ,1,1 In- the captain of the Anna, there ~.nld be no question of accident. The .vliale. a huge old bull, circled round and r-.uii'l the -hip as if challenging attack, iild then -iidilonly charged it full tilt. In I'.HM. again, the schooner Monaglian > ns wrecked by a sword-fish oil' Block Mand. the loiig-toothed spear ripping •lien, her planking lor a space of several ;eet, so that she foundered almost immediately: while at St. Johns, Newfoundland. there is preserved a portion nineteen lis 1 , hoig -ot one o! the annul a gigantic octopus, which, in the year ISj:!. attacked anil sunk one of the felling fleet there. The monster was killed by the crews of the other boats, and afterwards carefully examined by Dr. M. Harvey, J,L.D.. who estimated its weight at over three tons.