PART ONE

CHAPTER ONE

A Moving Island

During the year 1866, the world was shocked to hear stories of a sea monster attacking several ships that passed through the oceans. The governments of many countries were quite interested in the matter. The monster was said to be much larger than a whale. Most agreed that the monster's shape was similar to that of a whale, however. Some declared the mysterious animal to be nearly two hundred feet long; others swore the monster was more than a mile long.

On the 20th of July 1866, a great ship was leaving India for Australia when it was hit by the mysterious animal, and sunk into the ocean, only five miles off the east coast of Australia. Just three days later, in the Pacific Ocean, the sea animal attacked another ship.

Immediately after these frightening events, people all over the world were talking about the sea animal. Newspapers continually had new stories related to the monster. Scientists, news reporters, and many others wrote many pages about their views on the newly discovered sea monster. For six months, people talked of nothing but the mysterious animal.

During the first months of the year 1867, however, interest in the sea monster seemed to decline a great deal. People were no longer curious to read about the sea monster, until the 5th of March 1867, when another ship, Canadian, had been hit. Now, however, people began to believe this sea monster was not an animal, but rather a small island in the sea that floated to various places in the ocean. The ship, though, had not been hit terribly; it returned to its port for repairs. Had the ship hit a rock under water? No one knew, but after a close examination, it was found that part of the ship's bottom was broken. As this ship's accident was not serious, it should have been forgotten. But three weeks later, another ship was again hit in the same manner.

On the 13th of April 1867, the second ship, a great British ship, was damaged, after speeding through the ocean. The ship was then brought back to its port and examined. The engineers were astonished to find the same triangular hole as was in the damaged Canadian ship just three weeks before. The hole had been broken through the iron bottom of each ship in the same manner. This mysterious island moving throughout the oceans had easily made a hole through iron, over 1 3/8 inches thick.

The excitement surrounding this mysterious danger had returned. People's interest in the events became stronger than ever. Now, the monster or island was now blamed for any unhappy event that happened on sea. The mysterious danger was now connected to over two thousand lost ships during that time. Communication between the countries of the world became more dangerous. People were now demanding that this mystery be discovered, so the seas would once again be safe.

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