Wauwatosa News

September 17, 1909

“Fish With GooGoo Eyes.”

Same Being About the Size of Locomotive Headlights.

Capt. Ross of the Standard Oil company’s steamer Dakotah, which arrived here yesterday from Manila, enjoyed a brief but soul-stirring flirtation July 11 with a strange fish. On the Dakotah’s log the finny flirt is described as being 40 feet long and 10 feet wide, with a cavernous mouth and very large eyes.

Capt. Ross was on the bridge when his mate called attention to what he thought was a whale on the port bow. When within about a hundred feet of the monster they saw that while very like a whale at a distance and intimate view should no resemblance.

“As we came along,” said Capt. Ross, “the creature turned its head toward the ship. It was the fiercest face I ever saw. The mouth was like the entrance to a railroad tunnel and the eyes big as locomotive headlights. For all the ferocity of the face the eyes had a kind look in them.

“We watched the brute intently. Just as we came almost alongside he gave those eyes a regular googoo roll and sank out of sight. A whale would have gone down head first and waved goodbye with his tail. We never saw this fellow’s tail, and whether he said ‘goodbye’ or ‘come along, boys,’ with his eyes is more than I can tell. I’ve been to sea for many years, but never saw another fish like that one.”

As proof that the fish was all he describes, Capt. Ross points to the log, which says the encounter took place in latitude 45 degrees 30 minutes north, longitude 152 degrees west. - San Francisco Call

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