alone, nor with the option of accepting or rejecting, as caprice or
prejudice may prompt us, the narratives of those who have told us they
have seen what we have not. Portions of cuttles of extraordinary size
are preserved in several European museums. In the collection of the
Faculty of Sciences at Montpellier is one six feet long, taken by
fishermen at Cette, which Professor Steenstrup has identified as
_Ommastrephes pteropus_. One of the same species, which was formerly in
the possession of M. Eschricht, who received it from Marseilles, may be
seen in the museum at Copenhagen. The body of another, analogous to
these, is exhibited in the Museum of Trieste: it was taken on the coast
of Dalmatia. At the meeting of the British Association at Plymouth in
1841, Colonel Smith exhibited drawings of the beak and other parts of a
very large calamary preserved at Haarlem; and M. P. Harting, in 1860,
described in the Memoirs of the Royal Scientific Academy of Amsterdam
portions of two extant in other collections in Holland, one of which he
believes to be Steenstrup's _Architeuthis dux_, a species which he
regards as identical with _Ommastrephes todarus_ of D'Orbigny.
Still there remained a residuum of doubt in the minds of naturalists
and the public concerning the existence of gigantic cuttles until,
towards the close of the year 1873, two specimens were encountered on
the coast of Newfoundland, and a portion of one and the whole of the
other, were brought ashore, and preserved for examination by competent
zoologists.
The circumstances under which the first was seen, as sensationally
described by the Rev. M. Harvey, Presbyterian minister of St. John's,
Newfoundland, in a letter to Principal Dawson, of McGill College, were,
briefly and soberly, as follows:--Two fishermen were out in a small punt
on the 26th of October, 1873, near the eastern end of Belle Isle,
Conception Bay, about nine miles from St. John's. Observing some object
floating on the water at a short distance, they rowed towards it,
supposing it to be the _debris_ of a wreck. On reaching it one of them
struck it with his "gaff," when immediately it showed signs of life, and
shot out its two tentacular arms, as if to seize its antagonists. The
other man, named Theophilus Picot, though naturally alarmed, severed
both arms with an axe as they lay on the gunwale of the boat, whereupon
the animal moved off, and ejected a quantity of inky fluid which
darkened the surrounding water for a considerable distance. The men went
home, and, as fishermen will, magnified their lost "fish." They
"estimated" the body to have been 60 feet in length, and 10 feet across
the tail fin; and declared that when the "fish" attacked them "it reared
a parrot-like beak which was as big as a six-gallon keg."
All this, in the excitement of the moment, Mr. Harvey appears to have
been willing to believe, and related without the expression of a doubt.
Fortunately, he was able to obtain from the fishermen a portion of one
of the tentacular arms which they had chopped off with the axe, and by
so doing rendered good service to science. This fragment (Fig. 9), as
measured by Mr. Alexander Murray, provincial geologist of Newfoundland,
and Professor Verrill, of Yale College, Connecticut, is 17 feet long and
3-1/2 feet in circumference. It is now in St. John's Museum. By careful
calculation of its girth, the breadth and circumference of the expanded
sucker-bearing portion at its extremity, and the diameter of the
suckers, Professor Verrill has computed its dimensions to have been as
follows:--Length of body 10 feet; diameter of body 2 feet 5 inches. Long
tentacular arms 32 feet; head 2 feet; total length about 44 feet. The
upper mandible of the beak, instead of being "as large as a six-gallon
keg" would be about 3 inches long, and the lower mandible 1-1/2 inch
long. From the size of the large suckers relatively to those of another
specimen to be presently described, he regards it as probable that this
individual was a female.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--TENTACLE OF A GREAT CALAMARY (_Architeuthis
princeps_) TAKEN IN CONCEPTION BAY, NEWFOUNDLAND, OCT. 26, 1873.]
In November, 1873--about three weeks after the occurrence in Conception
Bay--another calamary somewhat smaller than the preceding, but of the
same species, also came into Mr. Harvey's possession. Three fishermen,
when hauling their herring-net in Logie Bay, about three miles from St.
John's, found the huge animal entangled in its folds. With great
difficulty they succeeded in despatching it and bringing it ashore,
having been compelled to cut off its head before they could get it into
their boat.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--HEAD AND TENTACLES OF A GREAT CALAMARY
(_Architeuthis princeps_) TAKEN IN LOGIE BAY, NEWFOUNDLAND, NOV. 1873.]
The body of this specimen was over 7 feet long; the caudal fin 22
inches broad; the two long tentacular arms 24 feet in length; the eight
shorter arms each 6 feet long, the largest of the latter being 10 inches
in circumference at the base; total length of this calamary 32 feet.
Professor Verrill considers that this and the Conception Bay squid are
both referable to one species--Steenstrup's _Architeuthis dux_.
Excellent woodcuts from photographs of these two specimens were given in
the _Field_ of December 13th, 1873, and January 31st, 1874,
respectively, and I am indebted to the proprietors of that journal for
their kind and courteous permission to copy them in reduced size for the
illustration of this little work.
For the preservation of both of the above described specimens we have to
thank Mr. Harvey, and he produces additional evidence of other gigantic
cuttles having been previously seen on the coast of Newfoundland. He
mentions two especially, which, as stated by the Rev. Mr. Gabriel, were
cast ashore in the winter of 1870-71, near Lamaline on the south coast
of the island, which measured respectively 40 feet and 47 feet in
length; and he also tells of another stranded two years later, the total
length of which was 80 feet.
In the _American Journal of Science and Arts_, of March 1875, Professor
Verrill gives particulars and authenticated testimony of several other
examples of great calamaries, varying in total length from 30 feet to 52
feet, which have been taken in the neighbourhood of Newfoundland since
the year 1870. One of these was found floating, apparently dead, near
the Grand Banks in October 1871, by Captain Campbell, of the schooner
_B. D. Hoskins_, of Gloucester, Mass. It was taken on board, and part of
it used for bait. The body is stated to have been 15 feet long, and the
pedal or shorter arms between 9 feet and 10 feet. The beak was forwarded
to the Smithsonian Institution.
Another instance given by Professor Verrill is of a great squid found
alive in shallow water in Coomb's Cove, Fortune Bay, in the year 1872.
Its measurements, taken by the Hon. T. R. Bennett, of English Harbour,
Newfoundland, were, length of body 10 feet; length of tentacle 42 feet;
length of one of the ordinary arms 6 feet: the cups on the tentacles
were serrated. Professor Verrill also mentions a pair of jaws and two
suckers in the Smithsonian Institution, as having been received from the
Rev. A. Munn, with a statement that they were taken from a calamary
which went ashore in Bonavista Bay, and which measured 32 feet in total
length.
On the 22nd of September, 1877, another gigantic squid was stranded at
Catalina, on the north shore of Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, during a
heavy equinoctial gale. It was alive when first seen, but died soon
after the ebbing of the tide, and was left high and dry upon the beach.
Two fishermen took possession of it, and the whole settlement gathered
to gaze in astonishment at the monster. Formerly it would have been
converted into manure, or cut up as food for dogs, but, thanks to the
diffusion of intelligence, there were some persons in Catalina who knew
the importance of preserving such a rarity, and who advised the
fishermen to take it to St. John's. After being exhibited there for two
days, it was packed in half-a-ton of ice in readiness for transmission
to Professor Verrill, in the hope that it would be placed in the Peabody
or Smithsonian Museum; but at the last moment its owners violated their
agreement, and sold it to a higher bidder. The final purchase was made
for the New York Aquarium, where it arrived on the 7th of October,
immersed in methylated spirit in a large glass tank. Its measurements
were as follows:--length of body 10 feet; length of tentacles 30 feet;
length of shorter arm 11 feet; circumference of body 7 feet; breadth of
caudal fin 2 feet 9 inches; diameter of largest tentacular sucker 1
inch; number of suckers on each of the shorter arms 250.
The appearance of so many of these great squids on the shores of
Newfoundland during the term of seven years, and after so long a period
of popular uncertainty as to their very existence had previously
elapsed, might lead one to suppose that the waters of the North Atlantic
Ocean which wash the north-eastern coasts of the American Continent
were, at any rate, temporarily, their principal habitat, especially as a
smaller member of their family, _Ommastrephes sagittatus_, is there
found in such extraordinary numbers that it furnishes the greater part
of the bait used in the Newfoundland cod fisheries. But that they are by
no means confined to this locality is proved by recent instances, as
well as by those already cited.
Dr. F. Hilgendorf records[20] observations of a huge squid exhibited for
money at Yedo, Japan, in 1873, and of another of similar size, which he
saw exposed for sale in the Yedo fish market.
[20] 'Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft naturforschender Freunde zu
Berlin,' pp. 65-67, quoted by Professor Owen, _op. cit._
When the French expedition was sent to the Island of St. Paul, in 1874,
for the purpose of observing the transit of Venus, which occurred on the
9th of December in that year, it was fortunately accompanied by an able
zoologist, M. Ch. Velain. He reports[21] that on the 2nd of November a
tidal wave cast upon the north shore of the island a great calamary
which measured in total length nearly 23 feet, namely: length of body 7
feet; length of tentacles 16 feet. There are several points of interest
connected with its generic characters, and M. Velain's grounds for
regarding it as being of a previously unknown species, but they are too
technical for discussion here. This specimen was photographed as it lay
upon the beach by M. Cazin, the photographer to the expedition.
[21] 'Comptes Rendus,' t. 80, 1875, p. 998.
The following account of the still more recent capture of a large squid
off the west coast of Ireland was given in the _Zoologist_ of June 1875,
by Sergeant Thomas O'Connor, of the Royal Irish Constabulary:--
"On the 26th of April, 1875, a very large calamary was met with on
the north-west of Boffin Island, Connemara. The crew of a 'curragh'
(a boat made like the 'coracle,' with wooden ribs covered with
tarred canvas) observed to seaward a large floating mass,
surrounded by gulls. They pulled out to it, believing it to be
wreck, but to their astonishment found it was an enormous
cuttle-fish, lying perfectly still, as if basking on the surface of
the water. Paddling up with caution, they lopped off one of its
arms. The animal immediately set out to sea, rushing through the
water at a tremendous pace. The men gave chase, and, after a hard
pull in their frail canvas craft, came up with it, five miles out
in the open Atlantic, and severed another of its arms and the head.
These portions are now in the Dublin Museum. The shorter arms
measure, each, eight feet in length, and fifteen inches round the
base: the tentacular arms are said to have been thirty feet long.
The body sank."
Finally, there is in our own national collection, preserved in spirit
in a tall glass jar, a single arm of a huge cephalopod, which, by the
kindness and courtesy of the officers of the department, I was permitted
to examine and measure when I first described it, in May, 1873. It is 9
feet long, and 12 inches in circumference at the base, tapering
gradually to a fine point. It has about 300 suckers, pedunculated, or
set on tubular footstalks, placed alternately in two rows, and having
serrated, horny rings, but no hooks; the diameter of the largest of
these rings is half an inch; the smallest is not larger than a pin's
head. This is one of the eight shorter, or pedal, and not one of the
long, or tentacular, arms of the calamary to which it belonged. The
relative length of the arms to that of the body and tentacles varies in
different genera of the _Teuthidae_, and it is not impossible that this
may be the case even in individuals of the same species. But, judging
from the proportions of known examples, I estimate the length of the
tentacles at 36 feet, and that of the body at from 10 to 11 feet: total
length 47 feet. The beak would probably have been about 5 inches long
from hinge socket to point, and the diameter of the largest suckers of
the tentacles about 1 inch. So much for De Montfort's "suckers as big as
saucepan-lids." From a well defined fold of skin which spreads out from
each margin of that surface of the arm over which the suckers are
situated, Professor Owen has given to this calamary the generic name of
_Plectoteuthis_, with the specific title of _grandis_ to indicate its
enormous size. No history relating to this interesting specimen has been
preserved. No one knows its origin, nor when it was received, but Dr.
Gray told me that he believed it came from the east coast of South
America. It has, however, long formed part of the stores of the British
Museum, and, although previously open to public view, was more recently
for many years kept in the basement chambers of the old building in
Bloomsbury, which were irreverently called by the initiated "the spirit
vaults and bottle department," because fishes, mollusca, &c., preserved
in spirits were there deposited. I hope the public will have greater
facility of access to it in the new Museum.
Here, then, in our midst, and to be seen by all who ask permission to
inspect it, is, and has long been, a limb of a great cephalopod capable
of upsetting a boat, or of hauling a man out of her, or of clutching one
engaged in scraping a ship's side, and dragging him under water, as
described by the old master-mariner Magnus Dens. The tough, supple
tentacles, shot forth with lightning rapidity, would be long enough to
reach him at a distance of a dozen yards, and strong enough to drag him
within the grasp of the eight shorter arms, a helpless victim to the
mandibles of a beak sufficiently powerful to tear him in pieces and
crush some of his smaller bones. For, once within that dreadful embrace,
his escape, unaided, would be impossible. The clinging power of this
_Plectoteuthis_ is so enormously augmented by the additional surface
given by the expanded folds to the under side of the arms, that I doubt
if even one of the smaller whales, such as the "White Whale," or the
"Pilot Whale," could extricate itself from their combined hold, if those
eight supple, clammy, adhesive arms, each 9 feet long, and 5 inches in
diameter at the base on the flat under surface, and armed with a battery
of 2400 suckers, were once fairly lapped around it.
Ought it to surprise us, then, that an uneducated seafaring population,
such as the fishermen of Fridrichstad, mentioned by Pontoppidan,
absolutely ignorant of the habits and affinities, and even unacquainted
with the real external form of such a creature, should exaggerate its
dimensions and invest it with mystery? All that they knew of it was that
whilst their friends and neighbours, whom we will call Eric Paulsen,
Hans Ohlsen, and Olaf Bruhn were out fishing one calm day, a shapeless
"something" rose just above the surface of the tranquil sea not far from
their boat. They could see that there was much more of its bulk under
water, but how far it extended they could not ascertain. Mistrusting its
appearance, and with foreboding of danger, they were about to get up
their anchor, when, suddenly, from thirty feet away, a rope was shot on
board which fastened itself on Hans; he was dragged from amongst them
towards the strange floating mass; there was a commotion; from the
foaming sea upreared themselves, as it seemed to Eric and Olaf, several
writhing serpents, which twined themselves around Hans; and as they
gazed, helpless, in horror and bewilderment, the monster sank, and with
a mighty swirl the waters closed for ever over their unfortunate
companion. The men would naturally hasten home, and describe the
dreadful incident--their imagination excited by its mysterious nature;
the tale would spread through the district, losing nothing by
repetition, and within a week the fabled Kraken would be the result.
The existence, in almost every sea, of calamaries capable of playing
their part in such a scene has been fully proved, and this vexed
question of marine zoology set at rest for ever. The "much greater light
on this subject," which, as Pontoppidan sagaciously foresaw, was
"reserved for posterity," has been thrown upon it by the discoveries of
the last few years; and the "further experience which is always the best
instructor," and which he correctly anticipated would be possessed by
the "future writers," to whom he bequeathed the completion of his
"sketch," has been obtained. Viewed by their aid, and seen in the
clearer atmosphere of our present knowledge, the great sea-monster which
loomed so indefinitely vast in the mist of ignorance and superstition,
stands revealed in its true form and proportions--its magnitude reduced,
its outline distinct, and its mystery gone--and we recognise in the
supposed Kraken, as the Norwegian bishop rightly conjectured that we
should, an animal "of the Polypus (or cuttle) kind, and amongst the
largest inhabitants of the ocean."
THE GREAT SEA SERPENT.
The belief in the existence of sea-serpents of formidable dimensions is
of great antiquity. Aristotle, writing about B.C. 340, says[22]:--"The
serpents of Libya are of an enormous size. Navigators along that coast
report having seen a great quantity of bones of oxen, which they
believe, without doubt, to have been devoured by the serpents. These
serpents pursued them when they left the shore, and upset one of their
triremes"--a vessel of a large class, having three banks of oars.
[22] 'History of Animals,' book 8, chap. 28.
Pliny tells us[23] that a squadron sent by Alexander the Great on a
voyage of discovery, under the command of Onesicritus and Nearchus,
encountered, in the neighbourhood of some islands in the Persian Gulf,
sea-serpents thirty feet long, which filled the fleet with terror.
[23] 'Naturalis Historiae,' Lib. vi., cap. 23.
Valerius Maximus,[24] quoting Livy, describes the alarm into which,
during the Punic wars, the Romans, under Attilius Regulus (who was
afterwards so cruelly put to death by the Carthaginians), were thrown by
an aquatic, though not marine, serpent which had its lair on the banks
of the Bagrados, near Ithaca. It is said to have swallowed many of the
soldiers, after crushing them in its folds, and to have kept the army
from crossing the river, till at length, being invulnerable by ordinary
weapons, it was destroyed by heavy stones hurled by balistas, catapults,
and other military engines used in those days for casting heavy
missiles, and battering the walls of fortified towns. According to the
historian, the annoyance caused by it to the army did not cease with its
death, for the water was polluted with its gore, and the air with the
noxious fumes from its corrupted carcase, to such a degree that the
Romans were obliged to remove their camp. They, however secured the
animal's skin and skull, which were preserved in a temple at Rome till
the time of the Numantine war. This combat has been described, to the
same effect, by Florus (lib. ii.), Seneca (litt. 82), Silvius Italicus
(l. vi.), Aulus Gellius (lib. vi., cap. 3), Orosius, Zonaras, &c., and
is referred to by Pliny (lib. viii., cap. 14) as an incident known to
every one. Diodorus Siculus also tells of a great serpent, sixty feet
long, which lived chiefly in the water, but landed at frequent intervals
to devour the cattle in its neighbourhood. A party was collected to
capture it; but their first attempt failed, and the monster killed
twenty of them. It was afterwards taken in a strong net, carried alive
to Alexandria, and presented to King Ptolemy II., the founder of the
Alexandrian Library and Museum, who was a great collector of zoological
and other curiosities. This snake was probably one of the great boas.
[24] 'De Factis, Dictisque Memorabilibus,' Lib. i., cap. 8, 1st
century.
The "_Serpens marinus_" is figured and referred to by many other
writers, but as they evidently allude to the Conger and the Murena, we
will pass over their descriptions.
The sea-serpents mentioned by Aristotle, Pliny, and Diodorus were,
doubtless, real sea-snakes, true marine ophidians, which are more common
in tropical seas than is generally supposed. They are found most
abundantly in the Indian Ocean; but they have an extensive geographical
range, and between forty and fifty species of them are known. They are
all highly poisonous, and some are so ferocious that they more
frequently attack than avoid man. The greatest length to which they are
authentically known to attain is about twelve feet. The form and
structure of these _hydrophides_ are modified from those of land
serpents, to suit their aquatic habits. The tail is compressed
vertically, flattened from the sides, so as to form a fin like the tail
of an eel, by which they propel themselves; but instead of tapering to a
point, it is rounded off at the end, like the blade of a paper-knife, or
the scabbard of a cavalry sabre. Like other lung-breathing animals which
live in water, they are also provided with a respiratory apparatus
adapted to their circumstances and requirements--their nostrils, which
are very small, being furnished, like those of the seal, manatee, &c.,
with a valve opening at will to admit air, and closing perfectly to
exclude water.
Leaving these water-snakes of the tropics, we come, next in order of
date, upon some very remarkable evidence that there was current amongst
a community where we should little expect to find it, the idea of a
marine monster corresponding in many respects with some of the
descriptions given several centuries later of the sea-serpent. In an
interesting article on the Catacombs of Rome in the _Illustrated London
News_ of February 3rd, 1872, allusion is made by the author to the
collection of sarcophagi or coffins of the early Christians, removed
from the Catacombs, and preserved in the museum of the Lateran Palace,
where they were arranged by the late Padre Marchi for Pope Pius IX.
There are more than twenty of these, sculptured with various
designs--the Father and the Son, Adam and Eve and the Serpent, the
Sacrifice of Abraham, Moses striking the Rock, Daniel and the Lions, and
other Scripture themes. Amongst them also is Jonah and the "whale." A
facsimile of this sculpture (Fig. 11) is one of the illustrations of the
article referred to. It will be seen that Jonah is being swallowed feet
foremost, or possibly being ejected head first, by an enormous sea
monster, having the chest and fore-legs of a horse, a long arching neck,
with a mane at its base, near the shoulders, a head like nothing in
nature, but having hair upon and beneath the cheeks, the hinder portion
of the body being that of a serpent of prodigious length, undulating in
several vertical curves. This sculpture appears to have been cut between
the beginning and the middle of the third century, about A.D. 230, but
it probably represents a tradition of far greater antiquity.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--JONAH AND THE SEA MONSTER.
_From the Catacombs of Rome._]