Part 52 (1/2)

That here are extraordinary data--that they never would be exhumed, and never would be ma.s.sed 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 Was.h.i.+ngton, from the branch office, at San Francisco:

That, at midnight, Feb. 24, 1885, Lat. 37 N., and Long. 170 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 ma.s.s of fire appeared over the vessel, completely blinding the spectators.” The fiery ma.s.s 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 pa.s.sed 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 s.h.i.+p, 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 a.s.sociation_, 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 40' 56”, N.

Lat.: 13 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 circ.u.mstance is that the appendages did not look like trains of meteors, which s.h.i.+ne by their own light, but ”seemed to s.h.i.+ne 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 a.s.sociation_, 1860-82, the phenomenon was reported from Syria and Malta, as two very large bodies ”nearly joined.”

_Rept. Brit. a.s.soc._, 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sage 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 lat.i.tudes not far from the lat.i.tudes 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 steams.h.i.+p _Kilwa_, according to a paper read before the Society by Captain Hoseason, was sailing in a sea in which there was no phosph.o.r.escence--”there being no phosph.o.r.escence in the water.”

I suppose I'll have to repeat that:

”... there being no phosph.o.r.escence in the water.”

Vast shafts of light--though the captain uses the word ”ripples”--suddenly appeared. Shaft followed shaft, upon the surface of the sea. But it was only a faint light, and, in about fifteen minutes, died out: having appeared suddenly, having died out gradually. The shafts revolved at a velocity of about 60 miles an hour.

Phosph.o.r.escent jellyfish correlate with the Old Dominant: in one of the most heroic compositions of disregards in our experience, it was agreed, in the discussion of Capt. Hoseason's paper, that the phenomenon was probably pulsations of long strings of jellyfish.

_Nature_, 21-410:

Reprint of a letter from R.E. Harris, Commander of the A.H.N. Co.'s steams.h.i.+p _Shahjehan_, to the Calcutta _Englishman_, Jan. 21, 1880: