Anatomy of a Sea Yarn
The basis of the following illustrated short story is an 1887 event reported in newspapers around the world. Whether the event really occurred or occurred as described I find questionable. I decided that it would be an excellent example of a potentially fabricated sea yarn. These ‘made-up’ stories became more common in the twilight decades of the sailing era. Although sea yarns did appear at earlier periods, they seemed to increase in number as sailors became armchair yarn spinners and commercial sailing (use of sailing ships to haul cargo) an activity of the past.

The Story
The story maintained the distinction of being reported from New York; however, as the yarn rolled out to the world, storytellers added embellishments and fabrications. I leave my readers to their own conclusions about how this 1887 newspaper report could have been presented as good journalism.

Nature of the Book
I thought it would be interesting to dissect of the sea yarn from the perspective of the ship’s spirit Lucy T. Harvey. Lucy will analyze the structure of the story and point out problems that undermine the legitimacy of the greatest centipede invasion on a sailing ship. Lucy T. Harvey concluded her story by stating: "You will notice that the story about my voyage was a cascade of lies patched together with omissions and fabrications. As the storytellers re-spun the yarn they wove in devices and prejudices as they saw fit. This was the greatest ship centipede invasion ever to be reported during the sailing era. I hope from my dissection of the newspapers’ fiction you are now aware of some of the fundamental flaws to the threads of their yarn."