Part 113

At present nobody believes that the appearance of a strange animal on the coast is a bad sign! In the sixteenth and the seventeenth century, however, this was not uncommon. So we read that an appearance of a sea-serpent portended a change in Norway (1), and that the appearance of one in 1522 was followed by the banishment of King Christiernus and by a great persecution of the Bishops; it also foretold the destruction of the country (1). The snatching away of a man from a ship did not happen without a terrible event in the Kingdom, without a change being at hand, either that the princes would die or be banished, or that a war would soon break out (p. 105). The Norwegian fishermen looked upon its coming as a bad sign, for the fish would leave the coast (61). Curious are also the characters described to the animal. It lives in rocks and holes, and it comes out of its caverns only in summernights and fine weather, to devour calves, lambs and hogs (p. 105). The eating of cuttles, lobsters and all kinds of sea-crabs (p. 105) may also be a story, though this is not quite improbable. The fables, often told of Kraken and Spermwhales, that when sleeping on the surface of the water they are taken for an islet, are also related of sea-serpents: “and when it is slumbering on the Norway foam, the seamen deeming it some island, fixed their anchor in its scaly rind” (p. 111).

It is also said to enclose ships by laying itself round them in a circle; and to upset the ship (p. 109) if the seamen do not try to escape, which they can manage to do when they row over its body there where a coil is visible, for that when they reach the coil, it sinks, while on the contrary the invisible part rises (p. 134, p. 227). AREND BERNDSEN tells us that sea-serpents, as well as spermwhales, often run down whole ships with all aboard (p. 134), and some north sailors know that it had occasionally thrown itself across a yacht of several hundred tons and dragged it to the bottom (p. 134). Mr. Lee has sufficiently shown in his Sea Monsters Unmasked, that large calamaries really sometimes snatch a man from a rowing boat; for a long time this was considered to be a fable; now, however, zoologists unconditionally accept it as truth. Such incidents, if happened, are generally, but falsely, attributed by the Northern fishermen to sea-serpents (p. 105, p. 108, p. 134).

It is not astonishing that by such people the sea-serpent is called dangerous to seamen (p. 108, p. 134) and that they are very much afraid of it (7, 14, p. 134, 61, 64, 65, 67, 92, 103, p. 259, 139, 157), and will never forget to take with them asa foetida or castoreum, the smell of which the animal cannot bear (p. 130, p. 134, p. 259) Moreover the fishermen advise to be very quiet when a sea-serpent approaches, and to avoid rowing, because the least noise attracts the animal (p. 259). Some believe that it casts its skin, as common snakes do (p. 132), and that it is born on land, and lives in forests and mountains till it can no longer hide its enormous body in it; then it seeks some river and floats down to the sea (p. 133). When swimming, sea-serpents don’t show their tail above the surface. Fishermen, in their fear, would say: if one was near the head, the other end of the animal could not be seen (103). I am convinced that this is one of the reasons that the animal is sometimes said to be at least a cable in length. The animal leaves behind itself a considerable wake, which may be another reason that the witnesses exaggerated its length. So we find: it is three hundred feet long (p. 107, 21), about 320 feet (106 A), six hundred and seventy feet (p. 130, 61), about a fourth of an English mile (79), about 750 feet (85), from six hundred to 800 ells, i. e. from 1340 to 1780 feet (103), more than 500 feet (130) or half a mile long (156).

The thickness too is sometimes exaggerated (twenty feet, p. 105); the head is described in some instances to be as large as a foering boat, i. e. about twenty feet long (117, 146), or twelve feet long (126), or perhaps ten feet long (118), and the tail fully a hundred and fifty feet in length (146). The jaws are said to be of such an enormous size that, if extended, they seemed sufficiently capacious to admit of a tall man standing upright in them (118). It may be that the alleged serpentine shape of the animal caused some writers to give scales to the sea-serpent (p. 105), or that the distance was too large for a closer examination, so that the observers thought it might have a hard skin (5), or a rough coating (41, 51), or even a scaly one (39), or it was the fear which made them see scales (157) which in reality did not exist. Scales are also occasionally delineated (fig. 26) though the eye-witness does not mention them, and even believed it belonged to the eel-tribe (63). No wonder that such a terrible animal is often called Leviathan (p. 111), an animal which raises its coils so high above the water, that a ship can go through one of them (p. 109). Norwegian fishermen really believe that the animal sometimes comes on land as OLAUS MAGNUS (p. 105) and PONTOPPIDAN (p. 133) tell us, and as is stated afterwards, when even distinct traces of it were said to have been found in the fields (96).

In my opinion it is an error to believe that there are two species of sea-serpents (p. 107) or that there are several species of them all belonging to the same genus (112). And also that the animal ever takes a boat for one of the other sex, which induces it to follow the boat (p. 133). This is a habit of the animal; but as it is a quite harmless one, it is an error to believe that it grows furious when the pursued are so fortunate as to escape (158), or that it may ever destroy them, even after being struck with a boat-hook (112). That the shores of Norway are the only in Europe, which are frequented by this monster (p. 135) is a positive error, since the animal is known to appear also on the coasts of Great Britain, France, and even in the Mediterranean.

From what we now know of the division of the colours of the animal’s body, I don’t hesitate to say that they are wrongly represented in one of the drawings (fig. 31). The cetacean tail delineated in fig. 49 is explained in n^o. 151, the fish tail of fig. 26 in n^o. 63. The definition that the eyes were of a greenish hue and looked devilish (158) is certainly the result of an observation made in great fright. I am sure that in cases wherein the colour of the head and neck are described as a bluish green (29), or of a blue colour (29), or as blue as possible (29), and that of the back of a dark green (30), these definitions are the result of optical illusion, or the observers may have been colour-blind.

The twelve fins (129, fig. 36) of which six are drawn on the left side and six on the right side of the body emerging from the water, are undoubtedly the result of an optical deception, as I have explained in n^o. 129.--In the same way I have explained why the animal has a head connected with the body without any indication of a neck, so that it resembled a gigantic salamander (146), and that it seemed to be of a gelatinous, that is flabby, substance (146), and that the motion of it was apparently cork-screw-like (155).

In no case the antenna, ending in a crescent (106 A) or the ridge of fins (148), or the discolouring of the water (131) observed, have anything to do with the animal or with its appearance.

But let us now pass to the facts which may be inferred from what is reported of the animal.

B. Facts.

These are so numerous that I am obliged to bring them together under several heads.

1. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS.

a. Dimensions.

The length of what was visible of the animal above the surface of the water was estimated to be: from sixteen to eighteen feet (25), several meters (136), about twenty feet (150), from twenty to thirty feet (35), thirty feet (113, 123), about thirty-six feet (92), about forty feet (26, 41, 42, 44, 80, 91, 128, 145), forty-five feet (137), between forty and fifty feet (115, 147), fifty feet at least (43, 46, 50, 51, 60), about fifty-five feet (94), from fifty to sixty feet (63), sixty feet (57, 83, 117, 118, 129, 138, 150), seventy-five feet (152 A), eighty feet at least (97), a hundred and fifty feet (154), and, though estimated by the eye-witnesses at about fifty feet, the visible part must, according to my reckoning, have been eighty feet at least in n^o. 148. These enormous differences in the statements cannot surprise us of an animal which may attain a length of more than two hundred feet. As a rule the animal swims with head and neck above the water-surface, commonly the back too is partly visible, but of the tail only a small portion. In n^o. 154 as we see, a length of 150 feet of the animal was visible; in this instance it lay nearly perfectly still; only the long neck and head were under water, and the back and a great length of tail were above the surface.

The whole length of the animal is spoken of as: great (37, 152), large (119), very large (2), considerable (107), immense (36), astonishing (1), enormous (132), as a yacht of fifty tons (8), three or four times larger than the ship (5), eighteen feet (14), from fifty to fifty-five feet (19), from fifty to sixty feet (18), sixty feet (17, 28, 56), at least sixty feet (82), more than sixty feet (29), from sixty to seventy feet (24), from sixty to eighty feet (139, 142), about seventy feet (29), not above seventy feet (109), at least seventy feet (41), from seventy to eighty feet (31), from seventy to one hundred feet (74), seventy five feet (1, 158), about eighty feet (63), from eighty to ninety feet (39, 118), about ninety feet (121, 134), one hundred feet (17, 33, 41, 44, 45, 63, 66, 69, 135), at least a hundred feet (34), more than one hundred feet (95), greater than the animal of Captain M’QUHAE, consequently probably more than one hundred feet (93), one hundred and twenty feet (34), from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty feet (105), one hundred and thirty feet (69), about one hundred and fifty feet (65), from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet (114), from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and seventy feet (34, 144), one hundred and eighty feet (126), one hundred and ninety feet (52), about 200 feet (p. 107, p. 138, 130, 155, 157), more than two hundred feet (p. 107, 30, 131), and though estimated by the eye witnesses (see n^o. 148) as to be at least one hundred and fifty feet, the individual seen by them must have been, according to my reckoning, more than two hundred feet long.--Such a length needs no explanation: it is a fact, established by the declarations of highly respectable men, and of men who are accustomed to estimate the length of objects floating in the water from afar and at any short distance. Moreover it is the enormous tail which apparently enlargens these dimensions. The elephant is of a great bulk and of an enormous weight, but the giraffe astonishes us by its enormous legs and its enormous neck, though its body and its head are smaller than that of a moderate sized horse. So the colossal spermwhales, fin whales and whalebone whales surprise us by their bulk and weight, but the sea-serpent deprived of its neck and immense tail is only a child to them. Moreover a zoologist has not one single reason to deny the possibility of the existence of sea-animals with a body of no more than sixty feet, a neck of sixty feet, and a tail of hundred and twenty feet.

The length of the head is, according to the different declarations: nearly as that of a man (19, 43), about the size of the crown of a hat (42), larger than that of any dog (38), as large as a hat (94), about as that of a pail (29), full as large as a four gallon keg (42), equal to a small cask (109), nearly as large as the head of a horse (39, 60), rather larger than that of a horse (29), two feet long (56, 81), of the size of a ten gallon keg (48, 80, 92, 102), as large as a barrel (101), as large as a flour barrel (158), of the size of a 54 gallon hogshead (152 A), long (118), with regard to its thickness not very long (94), long in proportion to the throat (95), about six feet in length (97), about six or eight feet long (34, 120), as large as a little boat (32), colossal (115). The head of the individual seen by the officers of H. M. S. Daedalus cannot have been longer than three feet, as the neck is estimated sixteen inches in diameter, though it is called long (118) or even ten feet long (118); evidently a portion of the neck was included in the calculation. The head of the individual seen by the officers of the royal yacht Osborne must have been from eight to nine feet long, as its breadth is estimated at six feet (148).

The length of the neck is said to be: long (31, 56, 119, 124), enormous (p. 225), a length of ten feet was visible (48), about eighteen feet (124), about twenty feet (118), at least twenty feet (160), the neck together with the body fifty or forty-five feet, i. e. the neck alone must have been about twenty-five feet (146), about twenty five feet (149), at least twenty five feet (152), about thirty feet (151), about sixty feet (145); “from its crown or top to just below the shoulder where it became immersed, I should reckon about fifty feet”, but as the eye-witness saw the animal from behind, the length of the neck could not be estimated with accuracy; as to me, I am convinced that the neck of the individual measured about sixty feet (148). The long neck is delineated in fig. 46, 48 and 49.

The length of the trunk has never been actually estimated, as nearly all the observers believed that the animal was serpent-shaped, and therefore estimated only its total length or the part exposed to their eyes. Yet we may put down the length of the trunk of the individual seen by the officers of H. M. S. Daedalus to be about twenty feet, as one of the hindflappers was occasionally seen at about twenty feet distant from the point where one of the foreflappers was also occasionally seen. And as this fore-flapper was visible at about twenty feet in the rear of the head, we may conclude that the length of the trunk equals that of the neck (118). Consequently we may decide that the individual observed by the Captain and the surgeon of the Nestor, who saw the animal swimming evidently with its neck contracted, had a neck and a trunk each of about forty feet (146). In the same way we may conclude that the individual observed by the captain and crew of the Pauline (145) and that seen by the officers of the royal yacht Obsorne (148) had both a neck and a trunk of each about sixty feet.

The tail delineated in fig. 19, has only three times been actually estimated. Once it is called thirty five feet long (8), then forty feet long (162), and once a hundred and fifty feet (146). In my opinion the animal’s tail in this last instance cannot have been longer than about eighty feet, i. e. as long as the animal’s head, neck and trunk together. The length of the individual observed by the officers of the Daedalus was estimated by them to be at least eighty feet. As he have reckoned above about forty three feet for head, neck and trunk together, its tail consequently must have been about forty feet long. So the animal’s hind flappers are situated almost in the middle of the whole length. And therefore EGEDE and BING did not observe them, because the middle part of the whole length remained hidden from them (fig. 19). Captain HOPE states (119) that the animal seen from above on its back resembles an alligator with an enormous neck. If the animal had not an immense tail, he would never have made this comparison. When Captain TREMEARNE says “also a great length of tail” he seems to me to have included in his estimation a portion of the animal’s trunk (129). The individuals seen by the officers of the Osborne (148), of the Pauline (145), and of the Kätie (154), undoubtedly had a tail of about one hundred or even of one hundred and twenty feet in length. Captain D’ABNOUR called the tail enormous (106 A).

Twice (14, 119) it has been stated that the four flappers were seen together; the two fore flappers were seen four times (5, 121, 129, 148, see also p. 250); and delineated in fig. 19, 36, and 45; it is possible that the two hind flappers were twice seen (151, 158), and delineated in fig. 49. Four times one of the fore-flappers was visible above the surface (106 A, 118, 137, 154) and twice one of the hindflappers (118, 154). The foreflappers are called broad and large (5), frightful, several feet in length (121), larger than the posterior (119), about fifteen feet in length (148), and of immense dimensions (154); judging from the drawing illustrating this last instance (fig. 50), I should estimate its length also at fifteen feet. Captain D’ABNOUR saw one of the foreflappers rising to the height of about six feet from the water and inclining itself at a considerable angle upon the body (106 A). The hindflappers are said to be smaller than the anterior (119), and about ten feet long (154).

As to the breadth of the head, some observers mention its diameter, and some its circumference, or they compare its thickness either with that of the neck, with that of the trunk, or with some well-known object; this is the reason that we meet with the following statements: it is rather broad (31), where the head was connected with the body (read neck) it was a little larger than the body (read neck) (34), the head was rather larger than the body (read neck) (48), much smaller than the body (69), narrow in proportion to the throat: evidently the animal had contracted its neck, so that this latter grew much thicker (69), about two feet in diameter (150), about three feet in circumference (69), at least three feet in circumference (29), about as thick as a ten gallon keg (92), about six feet thick (148).

The neck is somewhat smaller than the head (31), as is also stated in other accounts: smaller than the head (109), much thinner than the head (91), comparatively narrow (148), and may be two and a half feet in circumference (48), just behind the head sixteen inches thick (118), about the thickness of a man’s waist (124), about two feet in diameter (149), or about four feet thick (148).

The thickness of the animal has commonly been compared with that of different objects, a circumstance which makes it difficult to fix the true diameter. Moreover it is in many instances difficult to make out whether the animal’s neck, just behind the head, is meant by the observer, or the animal’s chest or breast, which is the thickest part of the trunk. For the animal generally swims in such a way that a little part of its back rises above the surface of the water, completely hiding its thickest part and its flappers, so that it makes the impression to be a serpentine animal without any appendages, and of a uniform size. So the animal is said to be ten or twelve inches thick (147), about twelve inches (113), about fourteen inches (102), fifteen inches (19), as thick as a half-barrel (39, 41, 44, 48, 63), as thick as a common firkin (63), about twenty two inches (17), as thick as a barrel (34, 41, 80), as thick as a man’s body (46), as thick as a wine barrel (2, 85), as thick as a stout man (94), as thick as a barrel of two hogsheads (12), three feet (17), as thick as a sloop’s boom (24), three to four feet in circumference (25), as thick as a full-grown ox (79), about two feet in diameter (92), inconsiderable (95), as thick as a large horse (109), he is the thickest just behind the head (103), several ells (115), as thick as our main mast (135), thirty feet from its head-end the body seemed about as thick as the ship’s long-boat (126), it appeared about seven feet across the broadest part of the back (121), at the shoulder about fifteen to twenty feet (148), the shoulder was the thickest part of the body, about twenty feet (122).

The tail-root had, on one occasion, a diameter of four feet (146), but as it is generally hidden under water, it is only in a few instances that it was actually observed.

The tail ends in a point (fig. 19, fig. 20), and consequently is mostly said to resemble that of a serpent or snake. It is also said to be as pointed as a boat-hook (8), or very pointed (12).

Comparison of the dimensions. Supposing that the dimensions of the several portions of the animal are relatively nearly the same in individuals of different ages, we are able to draw up a table of comparative and relative dimensions. We learn from the officers of the Daedalus that the vertical diameter of the neck was about 1¹⁄₃ feet. From the officers of the Osborne we have the following estimations of dimensions: horizontal diameter of the head about 6 feet, horizontal diameter of the neck about 4 feet. We know from several eye-witnesses that the neck is round, so that we may suppose that its vertical diameter is the same as its horizontal or transversal one. Consequently the transversal diameter of the neck of the Daedalus animal was 1¹⁄₃ or ⁴⁄₃ feet; and that of its head ⁶⁄₃ = 2 feet. For a moment I will suppose that in these animals a head of about 2 feet broad has a length of about 3 feet, and this I may do, as the heads of the animals which I consider as allied to sea-serpents, have nearly these relative dimensions. In the same way I may put the length of the head of the Osborne individual at about 9 feet. The distance from the head to the foreflapper in the Daedalus animal was about twenty feet. We may consequently suppose that the same portion measured sixty feet in the individual seen by the officers of the Osborne. As to the question whether this portion is to be called the neck as I have done hitherto? I answer without hesitation no, this length also includes a portion of the animal’s trunk, viz. the part from its shoulder to the point where the fore limb is free. In the animals which, in my opinion, are allied to the sea-serpent, the upper arm is, so to say, “imbedded” in the trunk’s integument, is not free, as in man, and nearly immovable, and this portion is about one third of the whole length of the limb. Consequently we may conclude that, if the free part of the foreflapper is about fifteen feet, the portion of the trunk from the place where the fore limb in seated on the body to the shoulder is about seven feet and a half. Consequently the individual of the Osborne had a neck of about 53 feet. As the size of the individual of the Daedalus was about one third of that of the Osborne, its neck was about 17¹⁄₂ feet long. For the same reason the foreflappers of the Daedalus individual were five feet in length. The distance from the foreflapper to the hind flapper in the Daedalus animal measured about 20 feet, consequently the trunk measured 22¹⁄₂ feet, so that the distance from the foreflapper to the hindflapper of the Osborne animal must have been about 60 feet, and the length of its trunk about 67 feet. Summing up the lengths of the head, the neck, and the trunk, we have for the Daedalus animal 43 feet. This individual swam with its body in a straight line; “sixty feet at least were visible à fleur d’eau” are the words of Captain M’QUHAE, substantiated by the reports of two of his officers. Yet it was obvious that this was not the whole length of the animal, and that a great length of tail was hidden under water. The animal was estimated to be from eighty to ninety feet in length. I have not a single reason to doubt this statement, and therefore conclude that the tail of the animal was about as long as the distance from the animal’s nose to its hindflappers. But I will not be too bold and only give it a length of about forty feet. If this is within the bounds of truth, of which I don’t doubt in the least, the length of the tail of the individual, seen by the officers of the Osborne measured about 120 feet. Captain HOPE who had the opportunity to observe the four flappers together in a very favourable position, states that the foreflappers are larger than the hindflappers (119). I venture to estimate the length of the last at about ²⁄₃ of that of the foreflappers. So we may estimate the length of the hindflappers of the two individuals at 3¹⁄₃ and 10 feet respectively. As to the breadth of the animal’s trunk the officers of the Osborne state that it was from fifteen to twenty feet in their individual. We may safely suppose that the animal did not expose its greatest breadth, which must have been a little below the surface of the water, so that I don’t hesitate to fix the greatest diameter at 20 or 21 feet. The body gradually diminishes towards the tail, and this in its turn towards its end, which, as we have observed, is pointed.

The reason why I have deduced my different relative proportions only from the reports of the officers of the Daedalus and of the Osborne, is that they had a very favourable opportunity to estimate them. The former saw the animal swimming with its body in a straight line, and with its neck quite stretched, not contracted, showing the greater part of its length, and swimming in such a way that it was seen just from aside, so that the different lengths of the portions of the body could easily be estimated. And the latter saw the animal just from behind, so that the different breadths of the animal could be seen; moreover the dimensions of the foreflappers were visible.

I have ventured to draw up the following table of the animal’s proportions for ten individuals, differing in age or sex.