THE SEA-SERPENT.
On the dark bottom of the great salt lake
Imprisoned lay the giant snake,
With naught his sullen sleep to break.
_Poets of the North_, "Oelenschlæger." Translated by Longfellow.
That frank writer, Montaigne, says[252]:--
"Yet on the other side it is a sottish presumption to disdaine and
condemne that for false, which unto us seemeth to beare no show of
likelihood or truth: which is an ordinarie fault in those who perswade
themselves to be of more sufficiencie than the vulgar sort.
"But reason hath taught me, that so resolutely to condemne a thing for
false, and impossible, is to assume unto himself the advantage, to have
the bounds and limits of God's will, and of the power of our common mother
Nature tied to his sleeve: and that there is no greater folly in the
world, than to reduce them to the measure of our capacitie, and bounds of
our sufficiencie.
"If we term those things monsters or miracles to which our reason cannot
attain, how many such doe daily present themselves unto our sight? let us
consider through what cloudes, and how blinde-folde we are led to the
knowledge of most things, that passe our hands: verily we shall finde, it
is rather custome, than Science that removeth the strangenesse of them
from us: and that those things, were they newly presented unto us, wee
should doubtless deeme them, as much, or more unlikely, and incredible,
than any other."
Montaigne's remarks seem to me to apply as aptly to the much-vexed
question of the existence or non-existence of the sea-serpent as though
they had been specially written in reference to it.
The sea-serpent, at once the belief and the denied of scientific men; the
accepted and ignored, according to their estimation of the evidence, of
reasoners, not scientific perhaps, but intelligent and educated; the
valued basis for items to the journalist, and the quintain for every
self-sufficient gobemouche to tilt against; appearing mysteriously at long
intervals and in distant places; the sea-serpent has as yet avoided
capture and the honourable distinction of being catalogued and labelled in
our museums.
Yet I do believe this weird creature to be a real solid fact, and not a
fanciful hallucination. This assertion, however, has to be sustained under
many difficulties. The dread of ridicule closes the mouths of many men who
could speak upon the subject, while their dependent position forces them
to submit to the half-bantering, half-warning expostulations of their
employers. When, for example, an unimaginative shipowner breaks jests over
his unfortunate shipmaster's head, and significantly hints his hope (as I
know to have been the case) that on his next voyage he will see no more
sea-serpents, or, in other words, that the great monster belongs to the
same genus as the snakes seen in the boots of a western dram-drinker, we
may be sure that an important barrier is put to any further communication
on the subject from that source, at least;[253] or when, again, some knot
of idle youngsters enliven the monotony of a long voyage by preparing a
deliberate hoax for publication on their arrival, a certain amount of
discredit necessarily attaches to the monster on the ultimate exposure of
the jest.
Men also occasionally deceive themselves, and while honestly believing
that they have seen his oceanic majesty, produce a story which, on
analysis, crumbles into atoms and crowns him with disgrace as an impostor.
The hard logic of science, in the hand of one of our master minds, has
also been arrayed against him, but fortunately weighs rather against
special avatars than against his existence absolutely.
Finally, the narratives of different observers disagree so much in detail
that we have a difficulty in reconciling them, except upon the supposition
that they relate to several distinct creatures, a supposition which I
shall hope to show is not improbable, as well as that the term sea-serpent
is an unwarranted specific differentiation of that of sea-monster, the
various creatures collectively so designated being neither serpents nor,
indeed, always mutually related. In commencing my record, I must bear in
mind Mrs. Glasse's proverbially excellent advice, and admit that it is
simply a history of the various appearances of a creature or creatures too
fugitive to admit of specific examination, and that until, by some
remarkable stroke of fortune, specimens are secured, their zoological
status must remain an unsolved, although closely guessed at, problem.
I have elsewhere stated my conviction that the serpent Midgard is only a
corruption of accounts of the sea-serpent handed down from times when a
supernatural existence was attributed to it; and we have in the Sagas
probably the earliest references to it, unless, perhaps, the serpents
mentioned by Aristotle, which attacked and overset the galleys off the
Libyan coast, may have been of this species.
The coast of Norway, deeply indented by fjords, the channels of which, for
a certain breadth, have a depth equal to that of the sea outside, seldom
less than four hundred fathoms, and corresponding in some degree with the
height of the precipitous cliffs which enclose them, abounding in all
kinds of fish, and in the season with whales, which at one time used to
number thousands in a shoal, appears, until within the last thirty years,
to have been peculiarly the favourite haunt of the serpent. Paddle and
screw are probably answerable for his non-appearance on the surface
lately.
The west coast of the Isle of Skye is another locality from which several
reports of it have been received during this century; less frequently it
has been observed upon the eastern American coast-line, upon the sea-board
of China, and in various portions of the broad ocean. It generally follows
the track of whales, and in two instances observers affirm that it has
been seen in combat with them.
I have no doubt but that the literature of Norway contains frequent
references to it of olden date, but the earliest notice of it in that
country which I have been able to procure is one contained in _A Narrative
of the North-East Frosty Seas_, declared by the Duke of Mosconia his
ambassadors to a learned gentlemen of Italy, named Galeatius Butrigarius,
as follows[254]:--
"The lake called Mos, and the Island of Hoffusen in myddest thereof is in
the degree 45.30 and 61. In this lake appeareth a strange monster, which
is a serpent of huge bigness; and as, to all other places of the world,
blazing stars do portend alteration, so doth this to Norway. It was seen
of late in the year of Christ 1522, appearing far above the water, rowling
like a great pillar, and was by conjecture far off esteemed to be of fifty
cubits in length."
Pontoppidan, the Bishop of Bergen, who published his celebrated _Natural
History of Norway_ in 1755, and who had at one time discredited its
existence "till that suspicion was removed by full and sufficient evidence
from creditable and experienced fishermen and sailors in Norway, of which
there are hundreds, who can testify that they have annually seen them,"
states that the North traders, who came to Bergen every year with their
merchandise, thought it a very strange question, when they were seriously
asked whether there were any such creatures, as ridiculous, in fact, as if
the question had been put to them whether there be such fish as eel or
cod.
According to Pontoppidan, these creatures continually keep at the bottom
of the sea, excepting in the months of July and August, which is their
spawning time, and then they come to the surface in calm weather, but
plunge into the water again so soon as the wind raises the least wave.
It was supposed by the Norway fishermen to have a great objection to
castor, with which they provided themselves when going out to sea,
shutting it up in a hole in the stern, and throwing a little overboard
when apprehensive of meeting the sea-snake. The Faroe fisherman had the
same idea with reference to the Tvold whale, which was supposed to have a
great aversion to castor and to shavings of juniper wood.
Olaus Magnus, in his _Histor. Septentrion_, chap. xxvii., writing not from
personal observation but from the relations of others, speaks of it as
being two hundred feet in length and twenty feet round, having a mane two
feet long, being covered with scales, having fiery eyes, disturbing ships,
and raising itself up like a mast, and sometimes snapping some of the men
from the deck.
Aldrovandus, quoting Olaus Magnus, says that about Norway there
occasionally appears a serpent reaching to one hundred or two hundred feet
in length, dangerous to ships in calm weather, as it sometimes snatches a
man from the ship. It is said that merchant ships are involved by it and
sunk.
Olaus Magnus also figures another serpent, which is said to inhabit the
Baltic or Swedish Sea; it is from thirty to forty feet in length, and will
not hurt anyone unless provoked.
[Illustration: FIG. 67.--SEA-SERPENT ATTACKING A VESSEL. (_From Olaus
Magnus._)]
Arndt. Bernsen, in his account of the fertility of Denmark and Norway,
says that the sea-snake, as well as the Tvold whale, often sinks both men
and boats; and Pontoppidan was informed by the North traders that the
sea-snake has frequently raised itself up and thrown itself across a boat,
and even across a vessel of some hundred tons burthen, and by its weight
sunk it to the bottom; and that they would sometimes raise their frightful
heads and snap a man out of a boat; but this Pontoppidan does not vouch
for, and, indeed, says that if anything, however light, be thrown at and
touch them they generally plunge into the water or take another course.
Hans (afterwards Bishop) Egede, in his _Full and Particular Relation of my
Voyage to Greenland, as a Missionary, in the year 1734_, figures and
describes a sea-monster which showed itself on his passage. He says: "On
the 6th of July 1734, when off the south coast of Greenland, a sea-monster
appeared to us, whose head, when raised, was on a level with our main-top.
Its snout was long and sharp, and it blew water almost like a whale; it
had large broad paws; its body was covered with scales; its skin was rough
and uneven; in other respects it was as a serpent; and when it dived, its
tail, which was raised in the air, appeared to be a whole ship's length
from its body."
In another work, _The New Survey of Old Greenland_, Egede speaks of the
same monster, with the addition that the body was full as thick and as big
in circumference as the ship that he sailed in. The drawing (which I
reproduce, Fig. 68) appears to have been taken by another missionary, Mr.
Bing, who stated that the creature's eyes seemed red, and like burning
fire. The paws mentioned by Egede were probably paddles like those of the
Liassic Saurians.
[Illustration: FIG. 68.--SEA-SERPENT SEEN BY HANS EGEDE, IN 1734, OFF THE
SOUTH COAST OF GREENLAND.]
Pontoppidan considers this to be a different monster from the Norway
sea-serpent, of which he gives a figure furnished him by the Rev. Hans
Strom, made from descriptions of two of his neighbours at Herroe, who had
been eye-witnesses of its appearance.
Lawrance de Ferry, a captain in the Norwegian Navy, and commander in
Bergen in Pontoppidan's time, actually wounded one of the Norwegian
serpents, and made two of his men, who were with him in the boat at the
time, testify upon oath in court to the truth of the statement which he
himself made, as follows:--
"The latter end of August, in the year 1746, as I was on a voyage, in my
return from Trundheim, in a very calm and hot day, having a mind to put in
at Molde, it happened that when we were arrived with my vessel within six
English miles of the aforesaid Molde, being at a place called Jule-Næfs,
as I was reading in a book, I heard a kind of murmuring voice from amongst
the men at the oars, who were eight in number, and observed that the man
at the helm kept off from the land. Upon this I inquired what was the
matter; and was informed that there was a sea-snake before us. I then
ordered the man at the helm to keep to the land again, and to come up with
this creature, of which I had heard so many stories. Though the fellows
were under some apprehensions, they were obliged to obey my orders. In the
meantime this sea-snake passed by us, and we were obliged to tack the
vessel about, in order to get nearer to it. As the snake swam faster than
we could row, I took my gun, that was ready charged, and fired at it; on
this he immediately plunged under the water. We rowed to the place where
it sank down (which in the calm might be easily observed) and lay upon our
oars, thinking it would come up again to the surface; however, it did not.
When the snake plunged down, the water appeared thick and red; perhaps
some of the shot might wound it, the distance being very little. The head
of this snake, which it held more than two feet above the surface of the
water, resembled that of a horse. It was of a greyish colour, and the
mouth was quite black and very large. It had black eyes and a long white
mane,[255] that hung down from the neck to the surface of the water.
Besides the head and neck, we saw seven or eight folds or coils of this
snake, which were very thick, and, as far as we could guess, there was
about a fathom distance between each fold.--Bergen, 1751."
Pontoppidan remarks on the peculiarity of spouting water from the nostrils
exhibited by the creature seen by Hans Egede, and states that he had not
known it spoken of in any other instance.
[Illustration: FIG. 69.--THE NORWEGIAN SEA-SERPENT. (_According to
Pontoppidan._)]
He also remarks that the Norway sea-snakes differ from the Greenland ones
with regard to the skin, which in the former is as smooth as glass, and
has not the least wrinkle, except about the neck, where there is a kind of
mane, which looks like a parcel of sea-weeds hanging down to the water.
Summarising the accounts which had reached him, he estimates the length at
about one hundred fathoms or six hundred English feet. He states that it
lies on the surface of the water (when it is very calm) in many folds, and
that these are in a line with the head; some small parts of the back are
to be seen above the surface of the water when it moves or bends, which at
a distance appear like so many casks or hogsheads floating in a line,
with a considerable distance between each of them.
"The creature does not, like the eel or land-snake, taper gradually to a
point, but the body, which looks to be as big as two hogsheads, grows
remarkably small at once just where the tail begins. The head in all the
kinds has a high and broad forehead, but in some a pointed snout, though
in others that is flat, like that of a cow or horse, with large nostrils,
and several stiff hairs standing out on each side like whiskers."
"They add that the eyes of this creature are very large, and of a blue
colour, and look like a couple of bright pewter plates. The whole animal
is of a dark brown colour, but it is speckled and variegated with light
streaks or spots that shine like tortoise-shell. It is of a darker hue
about the eyes and mouth than elsewhere, and appears in that part a good
deal like those horses which we call Moors-heads."
He mentions two places, one at Amunds Vaagen in Nordfiord, the other at
the island of Karmen, where carcases of it had been left at high water. He
supposes it to be viviparous.
In an account of the Laplanders of Finmark, by Knud Leems, with the notes
of Gunner, Bishop of Drontheim, (Copenhagen, 1767, 4to., in Danish and
Latin),[256] I find, "The Sea of Finmark also generates the snake or
marine serpent, forty paces long, equalling in the size of the head the
whale, in form the serpent. This monster has a maned neck, resembling a
horse, a back of a grey colour, the belly inclining to white.
"On the canicular days, when the sea is calm, the marine serpent usually
comes up, winding into various spirals, of which some are above, the
others below, the water. The seamen very much dread this monster. Nor
while he is coming up do they easily entrust themselves to the dangers of
the deep."
Mr. J. Ramus records a large sea-snake which was seen in 1687 by many
people in Dramsfiorden. It was in very calm weather, and so soon as the
sun appeared, and the wind blew a little, it shot away just like a coiled
cable that is suddenly thrown out by the sailors; and they observed that
it was some time in stretching out its many folds.
Captain (afterwards Sir Arthur) de Capell Brooke[257] collected all
accounts he could, during his journey to the North Cape, respecting the
sea-serpent, with the following results:--
"As I had determined on arriving at the coast to make every inquiry
respecting the truth of the accounts which had reached England the
preceding year, of the sea-serpent having recently been seen off this part
of Norway, I shall simply give the different reports I received during my
voyage to the North Cape, leaving others to their own conclusions, and
without expressing, at least for the present, my opinion respecting them.
"The fisherman at Pêjerstad said a serpent was seen two years ago in the
Folden-Fjord, the length of which, as far as it was visible, was sixty
feet."
At Otersoen, the Postmaster, Captain Schielderup, who had formerly been in
the Norwegian sea service, and seemed a quick intelligent man, stated that
the serpent had actually been off the island for a considerable length of
time during the preceding summer, in the narrow parts of the sound,
between this island and the continent, and the description he gave was as
follows:--
"It made its appearance for the first time in the month of July 1849 off
Otersoen. Previous to this he had often heard of the existence of these
creatures, but never before believed it. During the whole of that month
the weather was excessively sultry and calm; and the serpent was seen
every day nearly in the same part of the Sound.
"It continued there while the warm weather lasted, lying motionless, and
as if dozing, in the sunbeams.
"The number of persons living on the island, he said, was about thirty;
the whole of whom, from motives of curiosity, went to look at it while it
remained. This was confirmed to me by subsequent inquiries among the
inhabitants, who gave a similar account of it. The first time that he saw
it he was in a boat, at the distance of two hundred yards. The length of
it he supposes to have been about three hundred ells or six hundred feet.
Of this he could not speak accurately; but it was of considerable length,
and longer than it appeared, as it lay in large coils above the water to
the height of many feet. Its colour was greyish. At the distance at which
he was, he could not ascertain whether it were covered with scales; but
when it moved it made a loud crackling noise, which he distinctly heard.
Its head was shaped like that of a serpent; but he could not tell whether
it had teeth or not. He said it emitted a very strong odour; and that the
boatmen were afraid to approach near it, and looked on its coming as a bad
sign, as the fish left the coast in consequence! Such were the particulars
he related to me.
"The merchant at Krogoën confirmed in every particular the account of
Captain Schielderup, and that many of the people of Krogoën had witnessed
it.
"On the island of Lekö I obtained from the son of Peter Greger, the
merchant, a young man who employed himself in the fishery, still further
information respecting the sea-serpent. It was in August of the preceding
year, while fishing with others in the Viig or Veg-Fjord, that he saw it.
At that time they were on shore hauling in their nets, and it appeared
about sixty yards distant from them, at which they were not a little
alarmed, and immediately retreated. What was seen of it above water, he
said, appeared six times the length of their boat, of a grey colour, and
lying in coils a great height above the surface. Their fright prevented
them from attending more accurately to other particulars. In fact, they
all fairly took to their heels when they found the monster so near to
them.
"At Alstahoug I found the Bishop of the Nordlands. The worthy prelate was
a sensible and well-informed man, between fifty and sixty years of age. To
the testimony of others respecting the existence of the sea-serpent, I
shall now add that of the Bishop himself, who was an eye-witness to the
appearance of two in the Bay of Shuresund or Sörsund, on the Drontheim
Fjord, about eight Norway miles from Drontheim. He was but a short
distance from them, and saw them plainly. They were swimming in large
folds, part of which were seen above the water, and the length of what
appeared of the largest he judged to be about one hundred feet. They were
of a darkish grey colour; the heads hardly discernible, from their being
almost under water, and they were visible for only a short time. Before
that period he had treated the account of them as fabulous; but it was now
impossible, he said, to doubt their existence, as such numbers of
respectable people since that time had likewise seen them on several
occasions. He had never met with any person who had seen the kraken, and
was inclined to think it a fable.
"During the time that I remained at Hundholm, a curious circumstance
occurred. One day, when at dinner at Mr. Blackhall's house, and thinking
little of the sea-serpent, concerning which I had heard nothing for some
time, a young man, the master of a small fishing-yacht, which had just
come in from Drontheim, joined our party. In the course of conversation he
mentioned that a few hours before, whilst close to Hundholm, and previous
to his entering the harbour, two sea-snakes passed immediately under his
yacht. When he saw them he was on the deck, and, seizing a handspike, he
struck at them as they came up close to the vessel on the other side, upon
which they disappeared. Their length was very great, and their colour
greyish, but for the very short time they were visible he could not notice
any further particulars.
"He had no doubt of their being snakes, as he called them, and the
circumstance was related entirely of his own accord."
Captain Brooke sums up the reports he received with the following general
observations:--
"Taking upon the whole a fair view of the different accounts related in
the foregoing pages respecting the sea-serpent, no reasonable person can
doubt the fact of some marine animal of extraordinary dimensions, and in
all probability of the serpent tribe, having been repeatedly seen by
various persons along the Norway and Finmark coasts. These accounts, for
the most part, have been given verbally from the mouths of the fishermen,
a honest and artless class of men, who, having no motive for
misrepresentation, cannot be suspected of a wish to deceive; could this
idea, however, be entertained, the circumstance of their assertions having
been so fully confirmed by others, in more distant parts, would be
sufficient to free them from any imputation of this kind.
"The simple facts are these: In traversing a space of full seven hundred
miles of coast, extending to the most northern point, accounts have been
received from numerous persons respecting the appearance of an animal
called by them a sea-serpent. This of itself would induce some degree of
credit to be given to it; but when these several relations as to the
general appearance of the animal, its dimensions, the state of the weather
when it was seen, and other particulars, are so fully confirmed, one by
the other, at such considerable intervening distances, every reasonable
man will feel satisfied of the truth of the main fact. Many of the
informants, besides, were of superior rank and education; and the opinions
of such men as the Amtmand (Governor) of Finmark, Mr. Steen, the clergyman
of Carlsö, Prosten (Dean) Deinboll of Vadsö, and the Bishop of Nordland
and Finmark, who was even an eye-witness, ought not to be disregarded.
"The Bishop of Nordland has seen two of them about eight miles from
Drontheim, the largest being apparently one hundred feet, and, in 1822,
one as bulky as an ox, and a quarter of a mile in length, appeared off the
island of Sorö, near Finmark, and was seen by many people."
Not having the _Zoologist_ at hand, I now quote a _resumé_ of short
notices extracted from it, contained in the _Illustrated London News_ for
October 28, 1848, as follows:--
"Our attention has been drawn to the _Zoologist_ for the past year,
wherein are several communications tending to authenticate the existence
of the great sea-serpent. Thus, in the number for February 1847, we find
paragraphs quoted from the Norse newspapers stating that in the
neighbourhood of Christiansund and Molde, in the province of Romsdal, in
Norway, several highly respectable and credible witnesses have attested
the seeing of the serpent. In general, they state that it has been seen in
the larger Norwegian fjords, seldom in the open sea. In the large bight of
the sea at Christiansund it has been seen every year, though only in the
warmest season, in the dog days, and then only in perfectly calm weather
and unruffled water.
"Its length is stated at about forty-four feet, and twice as thick as a
common snake, in proportion to the length. The front of the head was
rather pointed, the eyes sharp, and from the back of the head commenced a
mane like that of a horse. The colour of the animal was a blackish brown.
It swam swiftly, with serpentine movements like a leech. One of the
witnesses describes the body to be two feet in diameter, the head as long
as a brandy anker (ten-gallon cask) and about the same thickness, not
pointed, but round. It had no scales, but the body quite smooth. The
witness acknowledged Pontoppidan's representation to be like the serpent
he saw."
"The writer of this article received letters from Mr. Soren Knudtzon,
stating that a sea-serpent had been seen in the neighbourhood of
Christiansund by several people; and from Dr. Hoffmann, a respectable
surgeon in Molde, stating that, lying on a considerable fjord to the south
of Christiansund, Rector Hammer, Mr. Krabt, curate, and several persons,
very clearly saw, while on a journey, a sea-serpent of very considerable
size.
"Four other persons saw a similar animal, July 28th, 1845.
"The next communication, dated Sund's Parsonage, August 31st, 1846,
records the appearance of a supposed sea-serpent, on the 8th, in the
course between the islands of Sartor Leer and Tös. Early on this day, just
as the steamer _Biörgvin_ passed through Rogne Fjord, towing a vessel to
Bergen, Daniel Solomonson, a cotter, saw a sea-monster swimming from Rogne
Fjord in a westerly direction towards his dwelling at Grönnevigskiæset, in
the northern part of the parish of Sund. The head appeared like a Færing
boat (about twenty feet long) keel uppermost; and from behind it raised
itself forward in three, and sometimes four and five undulations, each
apparently about twelve feet long. On the same morning a lad, out fishing
in the Rogne Fjord, saw a serpent, which he describes to have been sixty
feet long."
For further information on the Norwegian sea-serpent, I am indebted to the
excellent chapter, devoted to the question generally, contained in Mr.
Gosse's _Romance of Natural History_, First Series, from which I transfer,
without abbreviation, a statement made by the Rev. W. Deinboll,
Archdeacon of Molde:--
"On the 28th of July 1845, J. C. Lund, bookseller and printer; G. S.
Krogh, merchant; Christian Flang, Lund's apprentice; and John Elgensen,
labourer, were out on Romsdalfjord, fishing. The sea was, after a warm
sunshiny day, quite calm. About seven o'clock in the afternoon, a little
distance from shore, near the ballast place and Molde Hove, they saw a
large marine animal which slowly moved itself forward, as it appeared to
them, with the help of two fins on the fore-part of the body nearest the
head, which they judged from the boiling of the water on both sides of it.
The visible part of the body appeared to be between forty and fifty feet
in length, and moved in undulations like a snake. The body was round and
of a dark colour, and seemed to be several ells[258] in thickness. As they
discerned a waving motion in the water behind the animal, they concluded
that part of the body was concealed under water. That it was one connected
animal they saw plainly from its movement. When the animal was about one
hundred yards from the boat, they noticed tolerably correctly its
fore-part, which ended in a sharp snout; its colossal head raised itself
above the water in the form of a semi-circle; the lower part was not
visible. The colour of the head was dark brown, and the skin smooth. They
did not notice the eyes, or any mane or bristles on the throat. When the
serpent came about a musket-shot near, Lund fired at it, and was certain
the shots hit it in the head. After the shot he dived but came up
immediately; he raised his head like a snake preparing to dart on its
prey. After he had turned and got his body in a straight line, which he
appeared to do with great difficulty, he darted like an arrow against the
boat. They reached the shore, and the animal, perceiving it had come into
shallow water, dived immediately, and disappeared in the deep."
Mr. Gosse further quotes a statement made by an Englishman, writing under
the signature of "Oxoniensis" in the _Times_ of November 4th, 1848, to the
effect that--
"A parish priest, residing on Romsdalfjord, about two days' journey south
of Drontheim, an intelligent person, whose veracity I have no reason to
doubt, gave me a circumstantial account of one which he had himself seen.
It rose within thirty yards of the boat in which he was, and swam parallel
with it for a considerable time. Its head he described as equalling a
small cask in size, and its mouth, which it repeatedly opened and shut,
was furnished with formidable teeth; its neck was smaller, but its body,
of which he supposed that he saw about half on the surface of the water,
was not less in girth than that of a moderate-sized horse. Another
gentleman, in whose house I stayed, had also seen one, and gave a similar
account of it; it also came near his boat upon the fjord, when it was
fired at, upon which it turned and pursued them to the shore, which was
luckily near, when it disappeared. They expressed great surprise at the
general disbelief attached to the existence of these animals amongst
naturalists, and assured me that there was scarcely a sailor accustomed to
those inland lakes who had not seen them at one time or other."
The Rev. Alfred C. Smith, M.A., a naturalist, who visited Norway in 1850,
summarises the result of his investigations in the words: "and I cannot
withhold my belief in the existence of some huge inhabitant of those
northern seas, when, to my mind, the fact of his existence has been so
clearly proved by numerous eye-witnesses, many of whom were too
intelligent to be deceived, and too honest to be doubted."
Passing from these numerous narratives, which are distinguished for a
remarkable agreement in the main characteristic described, I will proceed
to some of those whose scene lies on our own coast.
In 1809, Mr. McLean, the parish minister of Eigg, communicated to Dr.
Neil, the Secretary of the Wernerian Society, the following
statement:--[259]
"I saw the animal of which you inquire, in June 1808, on the coast of
Coll. Rowing along that coast, I observed, at about the distance of half a
mile, an object to windward, which gradually excited astonishment. At
first view it appeared like a small rock; but knowing that there was no
rock in that situation, I fixed my eyes closely upon it. Then I saw it
elevated considerably above the level of the sea, and, after a slow
movement, distinctly perceived one of its eyes. Alarmed at the unusual
appearance and magnitude of the animal, I steered so as to be at no great
distance from the shore. When nearly in a line between it and the shore,
the monster, directing its head, which still continued above water,
towards us, plunged violently under water. Certain that he was in chase of
us, we plied hard to get ashore. Just as we leapt out on a rock, and had
taken a station as high as we conveniently could, we saw it coming rapidly
under water towards the stern of our boat. When within a few yards of it,
finding the water shallow, it raised its monstrous head above water, and,
by a winding course, got, with apparent difficulty, clear of the creek
where our boat lay, and where the monster seemed in danger of being
embayed. It continued to move off, with its head above water and with the
wind, for about half a mile before we lost sight of it. Its head was
somewhat broad, and of form somewhat oval; its neck somewhat smaller; its
shoulders, if I can so term them, considerably broader, and thence it
tapered towards the tail, which last it kept pretty low in the water, so
that a view of it could not be taken so distinctly as I wished. It had no
fins that I could perceive, and seemed to me to move progressively by
undulation up and down. Its length I believed to be between seventy and
eighty feet. When nearest to me it did not raise its head wholly above
water, so that, the neck being under water, I could perceive no shining
filaments thereon, if it had any. Its progressive motion under water I
took to be very rapid. About the time I saw it, it was seen near the Isle
of Canna. The crews of thirteen fishing-boats, I am told, were so much
terrified at its appearance, that they, in a body, fled from it to the
nearest creek for safety. On the passage from Rum to Canna, the crew of
one boat saw it coming towards them, with the wind, and its head high
above water. One of the crew pronounced the head as large as a little
boat, and its eye as large as a plate. The men were much terrified, but
the monster offered them no molestation."
I next extract, from the pages of the _Inverness Courier_, some very
pertinent remarks upon a description of the sea-monster seen by the Rev.
Messrs. McRae and Twopeny, contained in the _Zoologist_, and I add the
article there referred to. I had the advantage of hearing from a gentleman
related to Mr. McRae that he could substantiate his statement, having
himself about the same time, and in that locality, observed the same
appearance, though at a greater distance off.
The following is the article in the _Inverness Courier_:--
"We are glad to see that the two gentlemen who favoured us last autumn
with an account of what they believed to be a strange animal seen off the
west coast, Inverness-shire, have published in the _Zoologist_, a monthly
journal of natural history, a careful description of the creature which
they saw, and which seems to resemble the engravings of what is called the
Norwegian sea-serpent. We subjoin the magazine article entire. There is
such a dread of ridicule in appearing publicly in company with this
mysterious and disreputable monster, that we must commend the boldness of
the two clergymen in putting their names to the narrative; especially as
we observe that other observers have not been so courageous, and that
they have been obliged to give some of their information anonymously.
"The huge serpent, if serpent it may be called, invariably appears in
still warm weather, and in no other. There are certain Norwegian fjords
and narrow seas which it frequents, and it is scarcely ever seen in the
open sea. In the present case, the limit in which the animal has been seen
on our coast, is Lochduich to the north and the Sound of Mull to the
south, only about a fifth of the space between Cape Wrath and the Mull of
Kintyre; and it is in that part it should be most looked for. We beg to
draw the attention of our readers on the West Coast to the fact, now
established on indubitable evidence, of the supposed animal having been
seen there last year, and to the possibility of its appearing again in
similar weather this year. If it chances to turn up once more, some full
and accurate account of the phenomenon would certainly be most desirable."
The following is the article in the _Zoologist_[260]:--
Appearance of an animal, believed to be that which is called the
Norwegian Sea-serpent, on the Western Coast of Scotland, in August
1872, by the Rev. John McRae, Minister of Glenelg, Inverness-shire,
and the Rev. David Twopeny, Vicar of Stockbury, Kent.
On the 20th of August 1872 we started from Glenelg in a small cutter,
the _Leda_, for an excursion to Lochourn. Our party consisted, besides
ourselves, of two ladies, F. and K., a gentleman, G. B., and a
Highland lad. Our course lay down the Sound of Sleat, which on that
side divides the Isle of Skye from the mainland, the average breadth
of the channel in that part being two miles.
It was calm and sunshiny, not a breath of air, and the sea perfectly
smooth. As we were getting the cutter along with oars we perceived a
dark mass about two hundred yards astern of us, to the north. While we
were looking at it with our glasses (we had three on board) another
similar black lump rose to the left of the first, leaving an interval
between; then another and another followed, all in regular order. We
did not doubt its being one living creature: it moved slowly across
our wake, and disappeared. Presently the first mass, which was
evidently the head, reappeared, and was followed by the rising of the
other black lumps, as before. Sometimes three appeared, sometimes
four, five, or six, and then sank again. When they rose, the head
appeared first, if it had been down, and the lumps rose after it in
regular order, beginning always with that next the head, and rising
gently; but when they sank, they sank altogether rather abruptly,
sometimes leaving the head visible.
It gave the impression of a creature crooking up its back to sun
itself. There was no appearance of undulation; when the lumps sank,
other lumps did not rise in the intervals between them. The greatest
number we counted was seven, making eight with head, as shown in
sketch No. 1 [two engravings are given]. The parts were separated from
each other by intervals of about their own length, the head being
rather smaller and flatter than the rest, and the nose being very
slightly visible above the water; but we did not see the head raised
above the surface either this or the next day, nor could we see the
eye. We had no means of measuring the length with any accuracy; but
taking the distance from the centre of one lump to the centre of the
next to be six feet, and it could scarcely be less, the whole length
of the portion visible, including the intervals submerged, would be
forty-five feet.
Presently, as we were watching the creature, it began to approach us
rapidly, causing a great agitation in the sea. Nearly the whole of the
body, if not all of it, had now disappeared, and the head advanced at
a great rate in the midst of a shower of fine spray, which was
evidently raised in some way by the quick movement of the animal--it
did not appear how--and not by spouting. F. was alarmed and retreated
to the cabin, crying out that the creature was coming down upon us.
When within about a hundred yards of us it sank and moved away in the
direction of Syke, just under the surface of the water, for we could
trace its course by the waves it raised on the still sea to the
distance of a mile or more. After this it continued at intervals to
show itself, careering about at a distance, as long as we were in that
part of the Sound; the head and a small part only of the body being
visible on the surface; but we did not again, on that day, see it so
near nor so well as at first.
At one time F. and K. and G. B. saw a fin sticking up at a little
distance back from the head, but neither of us were then observing. On
our return the next day we were again becalmed on the north side of
the opening of Lochourn, where it is about three miles wide, the day
warm and sunshiny as before. As we were dragging slowly along in the
afternoon the creature again appeared over towards the south side, at
a greater distance than we saw it the first day. It now showed itself
in three or four rather long lines, as in the sketch No. 2, and looked
considerably longer than it did the day before; as nearly as we could
compute, it looked at least sixty feet in length. Soon it began
careering about, showing but a small part of itself, as on the day
before, and appeared to be going up Lochourn. Later in the afternoon,
when we were still becalmed in the mouth of Lochourn, and by using the
oars had nearly reached the island of Sandaig, it came rushing past us
about a hundred and fifty yards to the south, on its return from
Lochourn. It went with great rapidity, its black head only being
visible through the clear sea, followed by a long trail of agitated
water. As it shot along, the noise of its rush through the water could
be distinctly heard on board. There were no organs of motion to be
seen, nor was there any shower of spray as on the day before, but
merely such a commotion in the sea as its quick passage might be
expected to make. Its progress was equable and smooth, like that of a
log towed rapidly. For the rest of the day, as we worked our way home
northwards through the Sound of Sleat, it was occasionally within
sight of us until nightfall, rushing about at a distance, as before,
and showing only its head, and a small part of its body on the
surface. It seemed on each day to keep about us, and as we were always
then rowing, we were inclined to think it perhaps might be attracted
by the measured sound of the oars. Its only exit in this direction to
the north was by the narrow Strait of Kylerhea, dividing Skye from the
mainland, and only a third of a mile wide, and we left our boat,
wondering whether this strange creature had gone that way or turned
back again to the south. We have only to add to this narrative of what
we saw ourselves, the following instances of its being seen by other
people, of the correctness of which we have no doubt. The ferrymen on
each side of Kylerhea saw it pass rapidly through on the evening of
the 21st, and heard the rush of the water; they were surprised, and
thought it might be a shoal of porpoises, but could not comprehend
their going so quickly.
Finlay McRae, of Bundaloch, in the parish of Kintail, was within the
mouth of Lochourn on the 21st, with other men in his boat, and saw the
creature at about the distance of one hundred and fifty yards. Two
days after we saw it, Alexander Macmillan, boat-builder at Dornie, was
fishing in a boat in the entrance of Lochduich, half-way between
Druidag and Castledonan, when he saw the animal, near enough to hear
the noise, and see the ripple it made in rushing along in the sea. He
says that what seemed its head was followed by four or more lumps, or
"half-rounds," as he calls them, and that they sometimes rose and
sometimes sank altogether. He estimated its length at not less than
between sixty and eighty feet. He saw it also on two subsequent days
in Lochduich. On all these occasions his brother, Farquhar, was with
him in the boat, and they were both much alarmed, and pulled to the
shore in great haste.
A lady at Duisdale, in Skye, a place overlooking the part of the Sound
which is opposite the opening of Lochourn, said that she was looking
out with a glass when she saw a strange object on the sea, which
appeared like eight seals in a row. This was just about the time that
we saw it. We were also informed that about the same time it was seen
from the island of Eigg, between Eigg and the mainland, about twenty
miles to the south-west of the opening of Lochourn. We have not
permission to mention the names in these two last instances.
JOHN MCRAE.
DAVID TWOPENY.
_P.S._--The writers of the above account scarcely expect the public to
believe in the existence of the creature which they saw. Rather than
that, they look for the disbelief and ridicule to which the subject
always gives rise, partly on account of the animal having been
pronounced to be a snake, without any sufficient evidence, but
principally because of the exaggerations and fables with which the
whole subject is beset. Nevertheless, they consider themselves bound
to leave a record of what they saw, in order that naturalists may
receive it as a piece of evidence, or not, according to what they
think it is worth. The animal will very likely turn up on those coasts
again, and it will be always in that "dead season," so convenient to
editors of newspapers, for it is never seen but in the still warm days
of summer or early autumn. There is a considerable probability that it
has visited the same coasts before.
In the summer of 1871, some large creature was seen for some time
rushing about in Lochduich, but it did not show itself sufficiently
for anyone to ascertain what it was. Also, some years back, a
well-known gentleman of the West Coast, now living, was crossing the
Sound of Mull, from Mull to the mainland, "on a very calm afternoon,
when," as he writes, "our attention was attracted to a monster which
had come to the surface, not more than fifty yards from our boat. It
rose without causing the slightest disturbance of the sea, or making
the slightest noise, and floated for some time on the surface, but
without exhibiting its head or tail, showing only the ridge of the
back, which was not that of a whale or any other sea animal that I had
ever seen. The back appeared sharp and ridge-like, and in colour very
dark, indeed black, or almost so. It rested quietly for a few minutes,
and then dropped quietly down into the deep, without causing the
slightest agitation. I should say that about forty feet of it,
certainly not less, appeared on the surface."
It should be noticed that the inhabitants of that Western Coast are
quite familiar with the appearance of whales, seals, and porpoises,
and when they see them they recognise them at once. Whether the
creature which pursued Mr. McLean's boat off the island of Coll in
1808, and of which there is an account in the _Transactions_ of the
Wernerian Society (vol. i. p. 442), was one of these Norwegian
animals, it is not easy to say. Survivors who knew Mr. McLean, say
that he could quite be relied upon for truth.
The public are not likely to believe in the creature till it is
caught, and that does not seem likely to happen just yet, for a
variety of reasons, one reason being that it has, from all the
accounts given of it, the power of moving very rapidly. On the 20th,
while we were becalmed in the mouth of Lochourn, a steam-launch slowly
passed us, and, as we watched it, we reckoned its rate at five or six
miles an hour. When the animal rushed past us on the next day at about
the same distance, and when we were again becalmed nearly in the same
place, we agreed that it went twice as fast as the steamer, and we
thought that its rate could not be less than ten or twelve miles an
hour. It might be shot, but would probably sink. There are three
accounts of its being shot at in Norway; in one instance it sank, and
in the other two it pursued the boats, which were near the shore, but
disappeared when it found itself getting into shallow water.
It should be mentioned that when we saw this creature, and made our
sketches of it, we had never seen either Pontoppidan's _Natural
History_ or his print of the Norwegian sea-serpent, which has a most
striking resemblance to the first of our own sketches. Considering the
great body of reasonable Norwegian evidence, extending through a
number of years, which remains after setting aside fables and
exaggerations, it seems surprising that no naturalist of that country
has ever applied himself to make out something about the animal. In
the meantime, as the public will most probably be dubious about
quickly giving credit to our account, the following explanations are
open to them, all of which have been proposed to me, viz.:--porpoises,
lumps of sea-weed, empty herring-barrels, bladders, logs of wood,
waves of the sea, and inflated pig-skins! but as all these theories
present to our mind greater difficulties than the existence of the
animal itself, we feel obliged to decline them.
The editor of the _Zoologist_ adds:--
I have long since expressed my firm conviction that there exists a
large marine animal unknown to us naturalists; I maintain this belief
as firmly as ever.
I totally reject the evidence of published representations; but I do
not allow these imaginary figures to interfere with a firm conviction.
Here, again, we have the same general resemblances, observed under the
same conditions of weather, as in the case of the Norwegian serpent. As to
the pursuit, which may either have been urged from motives of curiosity or
of anger, it is curious to find a remarkable account of a similar
incident in _Kotzebue's Vogages_, where it is stated that M. Kriukoff,
while in a boat at Beering's Island, was pursued by an animal like a red
serpent, and immensely long, with a head like that of a sea-lion, but the
eyes disproportionately large. "It was fortunate," observed M. Kriukoff,
"we were so near land, or the monster would have swallowed us; he raised
his head far above the surface, and the sea-lions were so terrified, that
some rushed into the water, and others concealed themselves on the shore!"
The last notice of its appearance in British waters is extracted from
_Nature_, as follows:--
Believing it to be desirable that every well-authenticated observation
indicating the existence of large sea-serpents should be permanently
registered, I send you the following particulars:--
About three P.M. on Sunday, September 3, 1882, a party of gentlemen
and ladies were standing at the northern extremity of Llandudno pier,
looking towards the open sea, when an unusual object was observed in
the water near to the Little Orme's Head, travelling rapidly westwards
towards the Great Orme. It appeared to be just outside the mouth of
the bay, and would therefore be about a mile distant from the
observers. It was watched for about two minutes, and in that interval
it traversed about half the width of the bay, and then suddenly
disappeared. The bay is two miles wide, and therefore the object,
whatever it was, must have travelled at the rate of thirty miles an
hour. It is estimated to have been fully as long as a large steamer,
say two hundred feet; the rapidity of its motion was particularly
remarked as being greater than that of any ordinary vessel. The colour
appeared to be black, and the motion either corkscrew-like or
snake-like, with vertical undulations. Three of the observers have
since made sketches from memory, quite independently, of the
impression left on their minds, and on comparing these sketches, which
slightly varied, they have agreed to sanction the accompanying outline
as representing as nearly as possible the object which they saw. The
party consisted of W. Barfoot, J.P., of Leicester, F. J. Marlow,
solicitor, of Manchester, Mrs. Marlow, and several others. They
discard the theories of birds or porpoises as not accounting for this
particular phenomenon.
F. T. MOTT.
Birstall Hill, Leicester,
January 16th, 1883.
It must also be mentioned that Dr. Hibbert[261] states that the
sea-serpent has been seen in the Shetland seas, and instances one seen off
the Isle Stonness, Valley Island, and Dunvossness.
The first that we hear of the appearance of the sea-serpent in American
waters is of one which appeared on the coast of Maine, in Penobscot Bay,
at intervals, during the thirty years preceding 1809. The Rev. Abraham
Cummings, who reports this, saw it himself at a distance of about eighty
yards, and considered it to be seventy feet long; it was seen by the
British in their expedition to Bagaduse, during the first American war,
and supposed to be three hundred feet long. The next record relates to one
appearing in August 1817, which was frequently seen in the harbour of
Gloucester, Cape Aure, about thirty miles from Boston. It is the subject
of a report, published by a committee appointed by the Linnæan Society of
New England. Dr. Hamilton summarises the results as follows:--
"The affidavits of a great many individuals of unblemished character are
collected, which leaves no room to apprehend anything like deceit. They do
not agree in every minute particular, but in regard to its great length
and snake-like form, they are harmonious."
Eleven depositions were taken, in which the length was variously estimated
at from fifty to one hundred feet. It was either seen lying perfectly
still, extended upon the surface of the water, or progressing rapidly at
the rate of a mile in two, or at the most three, minutes; the mode of
progression is generally spoken of as vertical undulation. The tenth
deposition states: "On the 20th of June 1815, my boy informed me of an
unusual appearance on the surface of the sea in the Cove. When I viewed it
through the glass, I was in a moment satisfied that it was some aquatic
animal, with the form, motions, and appearance of which I was not
previously acquainted. It was about a quarter of a mile from the shore,
and was moving with great rapidity to the southward; it appeared about
thirty feet in length. Presently it turned about, and then displayed a
greater length, I suppose at least one hundred feet. It then came towards
me very rapidly, and lay entirely still on the surface of the water. His
appearance then was like a string of buoys. I saw thirty or forty of these
protuberances, or bunches, which were about the size of a barrel. The head
appeared six or eight feet long, and tapered off to the size of a horse's
head. He then appeared about one hundred and twenty feet long; the body
appeared of a uniform size; the colour deep brown. I could not discover
any eye, mane, gills, or breathing holes. I did not see any fins or lips."
One of the Committee of the Linnæan Society was himself an eye-witness,
and Colonel Perkins, of Boston, published in 1848 a communication which
was a copy of a letter he had written in 1820, detailing his personal
experience in confirmation of the Society's Report, as follows:--"In a few
moments after my exclamation, I saw, on the opposite side of the harbour,
at about two miles from where I had first seen, or thought I saw, the
snake, the same object, moving with a rapid motion up the harbour, on the
western shore. As he approached us, it was easy to see that his motion was
not that of the common snake, either on the land or in the water, but
evidently the vertical movement of the caterpillar. As nearly as I could
judge, there was visible at a time about forty feet of his body. It was
not, to be sure, a continuity of body, as the form from head to tail
(except as the apparent bunches appeared as he moved through the water)
was seen only at three or four feet asunder. It was very evident, however,
that his length must be much greater than what appeared, as in his
movement he left a considerable wake in his rear. I had a fine glass, and
was within from one-third to half a mile of him. The head was flat in the
water, and the animal was, as far as I could distinguish, of a chocolate
colour. I was struck with an appearance in front of the head like a single
horn, about nine inches to a foot in length, and of the form of a
marline-spike. There were a great many people collected by this time, many
of whom had before seen the same object, and the same appearance. From the
time I first saw him until he passed by the place where I stood, and soon
after disappeared, was not more than fifteen or twenty minutes.
"Subsequent to the period of which I have been speaking, the snake was
seen by several of the crews of our coasting vessels, and in some
instances within a few yards. Captain Tappan, a person well known to me,
saw him with his head above the water two or three feet, at times moving
with great rapidity, and at others slowly. He also saw what explained the
appearance, which I have described, of a horn on the front of the head.
This was doubtless what was observed by Captain Tappan to be the tongue,
thrown in an upright position from the mouth, and having the appearance
which I have given to it.
"One of the revenue cutters, whilst in the neighbourhood of Cape Ann, had
an excellent view of him at a few yards' distance. He moved slowly; and
upon the approach of the vessel, sank and was seen no more."
Dr. Hamilton[262] states that an animal of similar appearance was again
seen, in August 1819, off Nahant, Boston, and remained in the
neighbourhood for some weeks. Two hundred persons witnessed it, thirteen
folds were counted, and the head, which was serpent-shaped, was elevated
two feet above the surface. Its eye was remarkably brilliant and
glistening. The water was smooth, and the weather calm and serene. When it
disappeared, its motion was undulatory, making curves perpendicular to
the surface of the water, and giving the appearance of a long moving
string of corks. It appeared again off Nahant in July 1833. "It was first
seen on Saturday afternoon, passing between Egg Rock and the Promontory,
winding his way into Lynn Harbour; and again on Sunday morning, heading
for South Shores. It was seen by forty or fifty ladies and gentlemen, who
insist that they could not have been deceived."
The _Zoologist_ for May 1847 contains an account of a sea-serpent seen in
Mahone Bay, about forty miles east of Halifax, by five officers of the
garrison, when on a fishing excursion:--"We were surprised by the sight of
an immense shoal of grampuses, which appeared in an unusual state of
excitement, and which in their gambols approached so close to our little
craft that some of the party amused themselves by firing at them with
rifles. At this time we were jogging at about five miles an hour, and must
have been crossing Margaret's Bay, 'when suddenly,' at a distance of from
a hundred and fifty to two hundred yards on our starboard bow, we saw the
head and neck of some denizen of the deep, precisely like those of a
common snake, in the act of swimming, the head so far elevated and thrown
forward by the curve of the neck, as to enable us to see the water under
and beyond it. The creature rapidly passed, leaving a regular wake, from
the commencement of which to the fore part, which was out of water, we
judged in length to be about eighty feet, and this within rather than
beyond the mark. It is most difficult to give correctly the dimensions of
any object in the water. The head of the creature we set down at about six
feet in length, and that portion of the neck which we saw the same; the
extreme length, as before stated, at between eighty and one hundred feet.
The neck in thickness equalled the bole of a moderate-sized tree. The head
and neck of a dark brown or nearly black colour, streaked with white in
irregular streaks. I do not recollect seeing any part of the body."
Considerable interest was excited in 1848 by the account of a sea-serpent
seen by the captain and officers of Her Majesty's ship _Dædalus_ while on
her passage from the Cape of Good Hope to St. Helena, in lat. 24° 44' S.
and long. 9° 22' E. In this case the usual concomitants of calm weather
and absence of swell are wanting. The official report to the Admiralty is
as follows:--
H.M.S. _Dædalus_,
Hamoaze, Oct. 11.
SIR,--In reply to your letter of this day's date, requiring
information as to the truth of a statement published in the _Times_
newspaper, of a sea-serpent of extraordinary dimensions having been
seen from Her Majesty's ship _Dædalus_, under my command, on her
passage from the East Indies, I have the honour to acquaint you, for
the information of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that at 5
o'clock P.M. on the 6th of August last, in latitude 24° 44' S. and
longitude 9° 22' E., the weather dark and cloudy, wind fresh from the
N.W., with a long ocean swell from the S.W., the ship on the port
tack, heading N.E. by N., something very unusual was seen by Mr.
Sartoris, midshipman, rapidly approaching the ship from before the
beam. The circumstance was immediately reported by him to the officer
of the watch, Lieutenant Edgar Drummond, with whom and Mr. William
Barrett, the master, I was at the time walking the quarter-deck. The
ship's company were at supper.
On our attention being called to the object, it was discovered to be
an enormous serpent, with head and shoulders kept about four feet
constantly above the surface of the sea; and as nearly as we could
approximate by comparing it with the length of what our main
topsail-yard would show in the water, there was at the very least
sixty feet of the animal _à fleur d'eau_, no portion of which was, in
our perception, used in propelling it through the water, either by
vertical or horizontal undulation. It passed rapidly, but so close
under our lee quarter that had it been a man of my acquaintance I
should have easily recognized his features with the naked eye; and it
did not, either in approaching the ship or after it had passed our
wake, deviate in the slightest degree from its course to the S.W.,
which it held on at the pace of from twelve to fifteen miles per hour,
apparently on some determined purpose. The diameter of the serpent was
about fifteen or sixteen inches behind the head, which was, without
any doubt, that of a snake; and it was never, during the twenty
minutes that it continued in sight of our glasses, once below the
surface of the water; its colour, a dark brown with yellowish white
about the throat. It had no fins, but something like the mane of a
horse, or rather a bunch of sea-weed, washed about its back. It was
seen by the quarter-master, the boatswain's mate, and the man at the
wheel, in addition to myself and officers above mentioned.
I am having a drawing of the serpent made from a sketch taken
immediately after it was seen, which I hope to have ready for
transmission to my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty by to-morrow's
post.
I have, &c.,
PETER M'QUHŒ, _Capt._
To Admiral Sir W. H. Gage, G.C.B.,
Devonport.
[Illustration: FIG. 70.--SEA-SERPENT SEEN BY THE CREW OF H.M.S. "DÆDALUS,"
IN 1848.]
This drawing was figured in the _Illustrated London News_ in illustration
of a short but very valuable memoir, and is reproduced upon a smaller
scale here.
A similar, perhaps the same, monster was fallen in with at a slightly
later date, 20° further south, as described in a letter addressed to the
editor of the _Globe_.
_Mary Ann of Glasgow._
Glasgow, Oct. 19, 1848.
SIR,--I have just reached this port, on a voyage from Malta to Lisbon,
and my attention having been called to a report relative to an animal
seen by the master and crew of Her Majesty's ship _Dædalus_, I take
the liberty of communicating the following circumstance:--
"When clearing out of the port of Lisbon, upon the 30th of September
last, we spoke the American brig _Daphne_, of Boston, Mark Trelawny
master; she signalled for us to heave to, which we did, and standing
close round her counter lay to while the mate boarded us with the
jolly boat, and handed a packet of letters, to be despatched per first
steamer for Boston on our arrival in England. The mate told me that
when in lat. 4° 11' S., long. 10° 15' E., wind dead north, upon the
20th of September, a most extraordinary animal had been seen. From his
description, it had the appearance of a huge serpent or snake, with a
dragon's head.
"Immediately upon its being seen, one of the deck guns was brought to
bear upon it, which, having been charged with spike-nails and whatever
other pieces of iron could be got at the moment, was discharged at the
animal, then only distant about forty yards from the ship. It
immediately reared its head in the air, and plunged violently with its
body, showing evidently that the charge had taken effect. The _Daphne_
was to leeward at the time, but was put about on the starboard tack,
and stood towards the brute, which was seen foaming and lashing the
water at a fearful rate. Upon the brig nearing, however, it
disappeared, and, though evidently wounded, made rapidly off at the
rate of fifteen or sixteen knots an hour, as was judged from its
appearing several times upon the surface. The _Daphne_ pursued for
some time; but the night coming on, the master was obliged to put
about and continue his voyage.
From the description given by the mate, the brute must have been
nearly a hundred feet long, and his account of it agrees in every
respect with that lately forwarded to the Admiralty by the master of
the _Dædalus_.
JAMES HENDERSON, _Master_.
The account of the creature seen by the officers and crew of the _Dædalus_
excited more than the usual attention given to these stories; for the
professional status of the observers guaranteed at once the veracity of
their statement, and the probability of their judgment being accurate.
Considerable correspondence ensued, including a very masterly attack upon
the identification of the creature by Professor Owen, which will be again
referred to further on. It also elicited another sea-serpent story which
appeared in the _Bombay Bi-monthly Times_ for January 1849.
I see, in your paper of the 30th of December, a paragraph in which a
doubt is expressed of the authenticity of the account given by
Captain M'Quhœ of the great "sea-serpent." When returning to India,
in the year 1829, I was standing on the poop of the _Royal Saxon_, in
conversation with Captain Petrie, the commander of that ship. We were
at a considerable distance south-west of the Cape of Good Hope, in the
usual track of vessels to this country, going rapidly along (seven or
eight knots) in fine smooth water. It was in the middle of the day,
and the other passengers were at luncheon, the man at the wheel, a
steerage passenger, and ourselves being the only persons on the poop.
Captain Petrie and myself, at the same instant, were literally fixed
in astonishment by the appearance, a short distance ahead, of an
animal of which no more generally correct description could be given
than that by Captain M'Quhœ. It passed within thirty-five yards of the
ship without altering its course in the least; but as it came right
abreast of us, it slowly turned its head towards us. Apparently about
one-third of the upper part of its body was above water, in nearly its
whole length; and we could see the water curling up on its breast as
it moved along, but by what means it moved we could not perceive....
We saw this apparently similar creature in its whole length, with the
exception of a small portion of the tail, which was under water; and
by comparing its length with that of the _Royal Saxon_ (about six
hundred feet) when exactly alongside in passing, we calculated it to
be in that, as well as its other dimensions, greater than the animal
described by Captain M'Quhœ. I am not quite sure of our latitude and
longitude at the time, nor do I exactly remember the date, but it was
about the end of July.
R. DAVIDSON,
_Superintending Surgeon,
Nagpore Subsidiary Force_.
Kamptu,
3rd January 1849.
Again, Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Steele, of the Coldstream Guards, wrote
to the _Zoologist_: "I have lately received the following account from my
brother, Captain Steele, 9th Lancers, who, on his way out to India in the
_Barham_, saw the sea-serpent. Thinking it might be interesting to you, as
corroborating the account of the _Dædalus_, I have taken the liberty of
sending you the extract from my brother's letter:--'On the 28th of August,
in long. 40° E., lat. 37° 16' S., about half-past two, we had all gone
down below to get ready for dinner, when the first mate called us on deck
to see a most extraordinary sight. About five hundred yards from the ship
there was the head and neck of an enormous snake; we saw about sixteen or
twenty feet out of the water, and he _spouted_ a long way from his head;
down his back he had a crest like a cock's comb,[263] and was going very
slowly through the water, but left a wake of about fifty or sixty feet, as
if dragging a long body after him. The captain put the ship off her course
to run down to him, but as we approached him he went down. His colour was
green, with light spots. _He was seen by everyone on board._' My brother
is no naturalist; and I think this is the first time the monster has ever
been seen to spout."
One of the officers of the ship wrote: "On looking over the side of the
vessel I saw a most wonderful sight, which I shall recollect as long as I
live. His head appeared to be about sixteen feet above the water, and he
kept moving it up and down, sometimes showing his enormous neck, which was
surmounted with a huge crest in the shape of a saw. It was surrounded by
hundreds of birds, and we at first thought it was a dead whale. He left a
track in the water like the wake of a boat, and from what we could see of
his head and part of his body, we were led to think he must be about sixty
feet in length, but he might be more. The captain kept the vessel away to
get nearer to him; and when we were within a hundred yards he slowly sank
into the depths of the sea. While we were at dinner he was seen again."
The _Times_, of Feb. 5, 1858, contains a statement made by Captain
Harrington, of the ship _Castilian_, and certified to by his chief and
second officers, as follows:--
"Ship _Castilian_, Dec. 12, 1857; N.E. end of St. Helena, distant ten
miles. At 6.30 P.M., strong breezes and cloudy, ship sailing about twelve
miles per hour. While myself and officers were standing on the leeside of
the poop, looking towards the island, we were startled by the sight of a
huge marine animal, which reared its head out of the water within twenty
yards of the ship, when it suddenly disappeared for about half a minute,
and then made its appearance in the same manner again, showing us
distinctly its neck and head about ten or twelve feet out of the water.
Its head was shaped like a long nun-buoy, and I suppose the diameter to
have been seven or eight feet in the largest part, with a kind of scroll,
or tuft of loose skin, encircling it about two feet from the top; the
water was discoloured for several hundred feet from its head, so much so
that, on its first appearance, my impression was that the ship was in
broken water, produced, as I supposed, by some volcanic agency since the
last time I had passed the island; but the second appearance completely
dispelled those fears, and assured us that it was a monster of
extraordinary length, which appeared to be moving slowly towards the land.
The ship was going too fast to enable us to reach the masthead in time to
form a correct estimate of its extreme length; but from what we saw from
the deck, we conclude that it must have been over two hundred feet long.
The boatswain and several of the crew who observed it from the topgallant
forecastle, state that it was more than double the length of the ship, in
which case it must have been five hundred feet. Be that as it may, I am
convinced that it belonged to the serpent tribe; it was of a dark colour
about the head, and was covered with several white spots."