The Giant Cephalopod

The year is 1798. The only thing I ever wanted since I was a kid was to get a glimpse and if lucky, capture this creature that I have been hearing for a long time. Fact or fiction? No clue. I would have to see it for myself to believe it. The last known sight reported was in 1776, south to New Zealand to my knowledge. Not sure if anyone has seen it since then and if this creature is still roaming in the deep waters somewhere in the world.

Who am I? I am Captain Malchador ‘’Too Tall’’ MacPlank. Born and raised on the sea. Third generation of pirates by profession. I am proud of it…well…maybe not always…

I have a crew of twenty men. Together, as a whole unit, we are strong, we have team spirit, and we seem invincible to any obstacle. On land, I am a nobody, perhaps…on the vast ocean, I am master and commander. People fear my long black beard, my frame of 6’6’’ can intimate a lot of people. I do wear a patch on my left eye even though, my vision in my both eyes is perfect. It makes me feel a genuine pirate and instills fear in others. I have long hair. I don’t take a bath for weeks at a time when I am on the sea for a huge loot. All my team are strong, loyal, rugged, merciless men. Okay, not merciless…maybe compassionate. In the sense that we mean no physical harm to the people we encounter. We only want to gain possess of their assets, food provisioning, and money to secure our financial security.

I have traveled to many places in the past twenty years, since my profession of piracy started. I don’t have a real home where I can return at the end of the day. My home is my ship. My backyard is the Pacific Ocean. My hiding and resting place is Bruny Island, located off the south-eastern coast of Tasmania. All year round, it is warm temperature, sunny skies, with a tropical weather. The only nature’s wrath that get me worried are whirlpools. I believe I have a colossal and resistant vessel. I came out alive twice from whirlpools. Quite frightening. I can say I escaped death…twice.

The creature I am about to go to hunt for is quite unique on its own. Reddish purplish color. When spread out from one end to the other end, people have claimed that it can reach 330 feet long and weight five tons. Its territory is the Pacific and its depths. Eight tentacles, gills, eye, funnel, arms, aperture, ocellus, web, hectocotylus, ligula and thousands of suckers. A very intellect aquatic creature. In this case, a rare species that you might see once in your lifetime. I would like to see it with my own eyes and maybe capture it. Maybe make money of it during exhibitions to the public…

I embark on this journey with my fellow pirates on the sole purpose to catch this beast. For this aquamarine job, I am going to use another crew of extra ten men with another vessel. That secondary vessel will be a trap to capture this giant cephalopod. A trap within a ship. 

After a few months of preparation, recruiting the right people for the job, gather enough food supply, and custom built the second ship that will be used to catch the big prize. We are in December 1798. Summer is about to begin in the southern hemisphere. Here we go! Time to leave the land of the living people and join the creatures of the ocean. I have several maps, a sextant, a compass and a telescope. Along with weapons that we will use to contain this creature. The goal is to catch it alive without losing my men.

Weeks have gone by. No signs of the beast. Maybe it is just a legend? I am seeing so many commercial and passenger liners going by us. My God! How much monetary value I am losing by not attacking them and capture all their assets? I must be a food. A real fool. So far, my crew is under control. No mutiny.

We are now in a new year. Yes, January 1^st, 1799. We took this day to eat, drink, dance and just rest. No hunting today. I believe my crew needs this break. Tonight, we will all rest, get a full night sleep. We are in our fourth week. I am wondering if we should not turn around and return home. I am the captain after all, and I must make sure we got enough food to return home safely.

January 11th, 1799. One of my trusted men, Alexander Crook, yells out all he got from his lungs, ‘’Whirlpool!!!’’ I turn my head in that direction. This is bad news. Really bad news. As I starting running on the deck to reach Alexander, I hear on the other end of the ship I hear John Arson shouting, ‘’Giant oct…’’, and now I am panicking like I have never done on the sea in my twenty years in this profession. Okay, I must keep my cool. The whirlpool was at around ten nautical miles and the giant creature at five. Okay, let’s go for the creature. We must. I think we have death on the east and to the west. My goal is to capture this giant cephalopod, then we will take care of the other nature’s wrath.

‘’Turn around the ship!!!’’, I yell as I try to keep my composure. We are now headed toward the not so mythical creature. I can’t believe what I am seeing as closer we are getting to it. I am asking Angelo ‘’The Artist’’ Crumble to start sketching this aquatic animal. Angelo was the best among my staff to get a portrait done with precision and speed. As our two vessels start heading towards west, it seems that the whirlpool is getting closer on us.

We are preparing our bait. We brought a few farm animals on the trap boat. It was more like a cubic shape transportation. A cage. Built in a way where we would pull one façade of the vessel to let the beast enter in. Once it is in, we need to let down the trap door to close the box. 

Yes! It is a giant octopus that mankind has never ever seen! A beauty but also frightening at the same time. You feel like being so close to touch it, and you feel like you should run away. As it approaches to our vessels, it kept observing us, immobile, not making any moves. I was told by marine biologists that octopuses are extremely smart species. As we were ready to now use physical power to obtain our prize, the octopus starts moving away.

‘’Captain! It is not moving away; we are headed towards the whirlpool!!!’’

‘’No way!!! Everyone, at your position!!! We must start rowing out of this disaster.’’ My heart is pumping blood like it never did.

Within a few minutes, I see the trap vessel getting swallowed by the new crew I just had recruited. Now, my ship is about to suffer the same fate. The octopus is smart enough and got away from the disaster. We lost our treasure, not only that, but we are also about to perhaps not come out alive…

After some time, I wake up, and the last thing I remember is a vortex sucking us up. Here I am, on an island. I see a few of my men lying on the beach with me. I see none of our vessels. A new adventure starts here on this island but we are lost…