Luminescense Still Mystery to Science (Mar, 1932) Luminescense
Still Mystery to Science by Calvin Frazer ON DECEMBER 28, 1929,
the British steamship Talma was off the eastern shores of the
Bay of Bengal, en route from Calcutta to the Far East. The
weather was calm and clear. Toward seven in the evening an
extraordinary display of luminosity was seen in the surrounding
sea. “At first,” says the captain’s report, “what appeared like
small globules of phosphorescence rising from below and breaking
at the surface were observed. Later these assumed an appearance
almost like flashes of lightning under the water, which rapidly
formed into regular beams, curved as the curved spokes of a
wheel might be, and of a width at the ship of about 30 feet.
“These revolved rapidly from right to left at the rate of two a
second—timed as the beams passed the bridge—around a distant
center, which could not actually be seen clearly but appeared to
be about five miles off. “This center passed ahead of the ship,
being first observed