That, at least in some regions aloft, there is a medium dense even to
gelatinousness--
A deep-sea fish, brought to the surface of the ocean: in a relatively
attenuated medium, it disintegrates--
Super-constructions adapted to a dense medium in inter-planetary
space--sometimes, by stresses of various kinds, they are driven into
this earth's thin atmosphere--
Later we shall have data to support just this: that things entering this
earth's atmosphere disintegrate and shine with a light that is not the
light of incandescence: shine brilliantly, even if cold--
Vast wheel-like super-constructions--they enter this earth's atmosphere,
and, threatened with disintegration, plunge for relief into an ocean, or
into a denser medium.
Of course the requirements now facing us are:
Not only data of vast wheel-like super-constructions that have relieved
their distresses in the ocean, but data of enormous wheels that have
been seen in the air, or entering the ocean, or rising from the ocean
and continuing their voyages.
Very largely we shall concern ourselves with enormous fiery objects that
have either plunged into the ocean or risen from the ocean. Our
acceptance is that, though disruption may intensify into incandescence,
apart from disruption and its probable fieriness, things that enter this
earth's atmosphere have a cold light which would not, like light from
molten matter, be instantly quenched by water. Also it seems acceptable
that a revolving wheel would, from a distance, look like a globe; that a
revolving wheel, seen relatively close by, looks like a wheel in few
aspects. The mergers of ball-lightning and meteorites are not
resistances to us: our data are of enormous bodies.
So we shall interpret--and what does it matter?
Our attitude throughout this book:
That here are extraordinary data--that they never would be exhumed, and
never would be massed together, unless--
Here are the data:
Our first datum is of something that was once seen to enter an ocean.
It's from the puritanic publication, _Science_, which has yielded us
little material, or which, like most puritans, does not go upon a spree
very often. Whatever the thing could have been, my impression is of
tremendousness, or of bulk many times that of all meteorites in all
museums combined: also of relative slowness, or of long warning of
approach. The story, in _Science_, 5-242, is from an account sent to the
Hydrographic Office, at Washington, from the branch office, at San
Francisco:
That, at midnight, Feb. 24, 1885, Lat. 37 deg. N., and Long. 170 deg. E., or
somewhere between Yokohama and Victoria, the captain of the bark
_Innerwich_ was aroused by his mate, who had seen something unusual in
the sky. This must have taken appreciable time. The captain went on deck
and saw the sky turning fiery red. "All at once, a large mass of fire
appeared over the vessel, completely blinding the spectators." The fiery
mass fell into the sea. Its size may be judged by the volume of water
cast up by it, said to have rushed toward the vessel with a noise that
was "deafening." The bark was struck flat aback, and "a roaring, white
sea passed ahead." "The master, an old, experienced mariner, declared
that the awfulness of the sight was beyond description."
In _Nature_, 37-187, and _L'Astronomie_; 1887-76, we are told that an
object, described as "a large ball of fire," was seen to rise from the
sea, near Cape Race. We are told that it rose to a height of fifty feet,
and then advanced close to the ship, then moving away, remaining visible
about five minutes. The supposition in _Nature_ is that it was "ball
lightning," but Flammarion, _Thunder and Lightning_, p. 68, says that it
was enormous. Details in the American _Meteorological Journal_,
6-443--Nov. 12, 1887--British steamer _Siberian_--that the object had
moved "against the wind" before retreating--that Captain Moore said that
at about the same place he had seen such appearances before.
_Report of the British Association_, 1861-30:
That, upon June 18, 1845, according to the _Malta Times_, from the brig
_Victoria_, about 900 miles east of Adalia, Asia Minor (36 deg. 40' 56", N.
Lat.: 13 deg. 44' 36" E. Long.), three luminous bodies were seen to issue
from the sea, at about half a mile from the vessel. They were visible
about ten minutes.
The story was never investigated, but other accounts that seem
acceptably to be other observations upon this same sensational spectacle
came in, as if of their own accord, and were published by Prof.
Baden-Powell. One is a letter from a correspondent at Mt. Lebanon. He
describes only two luminous bodies. Apparently they were five times the
size of the moon: each had appendages, or they were connected by parts
that are described as "sail-like or streamer-like," looking like "large
flags blown out by a gentle breeze." The important point here is not
only suggestion of structure, but duration. The duration of meteors is a
few seconds: duration of fifteen seconds is remarkable, but I think
there are records up to half a minute. This object, if it were all one
object, was visible at Mt. Lebanon about one hour. An interesting
circumstance is that the appendages did not look like trains of meteors,
which shine by their own light, but "seemed to shine by light from the
main bodies."
About 900 miles west of the position of the _Victoria_ is the town of
Adalia, Asia Minor. At about the time of the observation reported by the
captain of the _Victoria_, the Rev. F. Hawlett, F.R.A.S., was in Adalia.
He, too, saw this spectacle, and sent an account to Prof. Baden-Powell.
In his view it was a body that appeared and then broke up. He places
duration at twenty minutes to half an hour.
In the _Report of the British Association_, 1860-82, the phenomenon was
reported from Syria and Malta, as two very large bodies "nearly joined."
_Rept. Brit. Assoc._, 1860-77:
That, at Cherbourg, France, Jan. 12, 1836, was seen a luminous body,
seemingly two-thirds the size of the moon. It seemed to rotate on an
axis. Central to it there seemed to be a dark cavity.
For other accounts, all indefinite, but distortable into data of
wheel-like objects in the sky, see _Nature_, 22-617; London _Times_,
Oct. 15, 1859; _Nature_, 21-225; _Monthly Weather Review_, 1883-264.
_L'Astronomie_, 1894-157:
That, upon the morning of Dec. 20, 1893, an appearance in the sky was
seen by many persons in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. A
luminous body passed overhead, from west to east, until at about 15
degrees in the eastern horizon, it appeared to stand still for fifteen
or twenty minutes. According to some descriptions it was the size of a
table. To some observers it looked like an enormous wheel. The light was
a brilliant white. Acceptably it was not an optical illusion--the noise
of its passage through the air was heard. Having been stationary, or
having seemed to stand still fifteen or twenty minutes, it disappeared,
or exploded. No sound of explosion was heard.
Vast wheel-like constructions. They're especially adapted to roll
through a gelatinous medium from planet to planet. Sometimes, because of
miscalculations, or because of stresses of various kinds, they enter
this earth's atmosphere. They're likely to explode. They have to
submerge in the sea. They stay in the sea awhile, revolving with
relative leisureliness, until relieved, and then emerge, sometimes close
to vessels. Seamen tell of what they see: their reports are interred in
scientific morgues. I should say that the general route of these
constructions is along latitudes not far from the latitudes of the
Persian Gulf.
_Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society_, 28-29:
That, upon April 4, 1901, about 8:30, in the Persian Gulf, Captain
Hoseason, of the steamship _Kilwa_, according to a paper read before the
Society by Captain Hoseason, was sailing in a sea in which there was no
phosphorescence--"there being no phosphorescence in the water."