Assyrian army

Assyrian army

Thursday 11 May 2023

The Sea Raiders

 The coast was in panic. People disappearing off the night time beaches, fishing boats lost at sea. Even the boats operated by members of the Church of Dagon stayed in port... amid rumours of something evil in the shallows...

At Seaport, the army patrolled the coast...

Patrols peering towards the sea for clues or dangers...

Patrolling the beach and scrub-covered rocks.

Checking the shoreline...

A strange noise... 'Bill... no reply. Bill had vanished into the dark night.

Calls for help, attracting the rest of the soldiers.

Then silence as the soldiers reach the rocks...

Something there...hidden in the dark and the rocks...

Sounds of shouting and gunshots, a frantic slashing of bayonets at the unseen foe...

Then the unseen enemy is gone, back to the darkness of the sea.

'Over the following weeks there were further attacks down the coast. On the last day of June, Mr Egbert Caine, an artist, bathing near Newlyn, threw up his arms, shrieked and was drawn under. A friend bathing with him made no attempt to save him but swam at once for the shore. This is the last fact to tell of this extraordinary raid from the deeper sea. Whether it really is the last of these horrible creatures it is, as yet, premature to say.  But it is believed, and certainly it is to be hoped, that they have returned now, and returned for good, to the sunless depths of the middle seas, out of which they have so strangely and so ysteriously arisen.'

Not everything I do is inspired by Lovecraft... there have been quite a few others... And if this one is not familiar the clues are there!

8 comments:

  1. Cool story, like the b&w photos. Best in early days not to show what is out there watching.

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    1. Apart from depicting night, b&w also helps hide the tentacles that would be more visible in a colour picture.

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  2. I too think the B&W enhanced this particular narrative....I did spot the tentacles in the final pic though! Horror type movies aren't my thing really...60,000 Leagues under the Sea for inspiration, perhaps?

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    1. Tentacles can actually be seen in pictures 3,8,9 and 10. The narrative wasn't taken from a movie. It's from a story published in 1896...

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  3. Very atmospheric indeed Rob…

    All the best. Aly

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  4. Is it inspired by H G Wells Raiders from the Sea? This was recently on Radio 4 Extra short stories on BBC IPlayer?

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    1. Correct. Giving the post the same title as the story and then printing the last few sentences of the story helps in the id!. I have a compendium of short stories, the original book is 'The Plattner Story and Others', the story itself can be downloaded from the internet.

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