Part 128

1826.--“In 1826 it again appeared off Nahant, as is recorded very briefly in the Lynn Mirror”.--Atlantic Monthly of June, 1884.--See also n^o. 84, p. 236; it might have been the same individual.--(R. P. G.)

1838? (N^o. 104, see p. 253).--Captain BEECHY made his voyage to the Pacific in the Blossom in the years 1825, 26, 27 and 28. It is therefore probable that he saw the sea-serpent in one of these years, but also possible that he was commander of the Blossom before 1825 or later than 1828.

1841, July 14.--A monster with a straight black head, 10 feet out of the water, spouting “a column of water in the air”, but “it was not a whale”.--Gulf of Mexico.--STEPHEN’S Central America, 1842, Vol. II, p. 464.--Description too short.--Doubtful.--(R. P. G.).

1849.--Seen (where?) by Mr. MARSTON, of Swampscott.--Atlantic Monthly of June, 1884.--(R. P. G.).

1854, spring.--A gigantic serpent, first called by the look-out man as “the biggest log ever seen”, afterwards rearing its snake like head as high as the funnel of the steamer out of the water, and plunging down.--Eye witnesses: Captain PEAT, of the Wm. Scalrook, and Captain ROLLINS, of the Isabel.--Before the mouth of Savannah River, Georg. and S. Car.--Miss MURRAY, United States, Canada and Cuba, 1855, Putnam & Co., New York, p. 235.--(R. P. G.).

1872.--Prof. SCHLEGEL in his De Dierentuin van het Koninklijk Zoölogisch Genootschap Natura Artis Magistra te Amsterdam, Vol. III, p. 45, points out that as early as 1837 he proved (nota bene) the impossibility of the existence of such a more than gigantic animal.

1872, August 20 and 21. (N^o. 137 and 138, see p. 322).--The following is the account which the Rev. J. MACRAE sent to the Inverness Courier, August 1872, prefaced by the Editors of this paper:

“A gentleman on whose intelligent observation and accuracy we have perfect reliance, sends the following account of a strange animal now to be seen about the West-Coast of Invernessshire and which, if not the veritable or traditional sea-serpent, must be the object so often represented under that appellation”.

“On Tuesday last, 20th. August, I went on a trip to Loch Hourn in my small sailing boat. I was accompanied by my friend, the Rev. Mr. T. of Kent, my two daughters, my grandson, and a servant lad. While we were proceeding along the sound of Sleat it fell calm, and we were rowing the boat, when we observed behind us a row of dark masses, which we took at the first glance for a shoal of porpoises; but a second look showed that these masses formed one and the same creature, for it moved slowly across our wake, about two hundred yards off, and disappeared. Soon afterwards what seemed to be its head reappeared, followed by the bumps, or undulations of its body, which rose in succession till we counted 8 of them. It approached now within about 100 yards, or less, and with the help of binoculars we could see it pretty distinctly. We did not see its eyes, nor observe any scales: but two of the party believed that they saw what they took to be a small fin moving above the water. It then slowly sunk, and moved away just under the surface of the water, for we could trace its course till it rose again, by the large waves it raised above it, to the distance of a mile and upwards”.

“We had no means of measuring its size with any accuracy, but taking the distance from the centre of one bump or undulation of its body to that of another at 6ft. (it could not be less) the length of the portion visible above the water, would be about 50 feet, and there may have been 20 or 30ft. more of its length which we did not see”.

“Its head seemed blunt, and looked about 18in. in diameter, and the bumps were rather larger than the head. When in rapid motion the bumps disappeared, and only the head and neck could be seen, partly above the surface of the water. It continued to rush about in the same manner as long as we remained within sight of the place, but did not again come so near us that day”.

“On the afternoon of the next day, August 21, as we were returning home we encountered our strange acquaintance again within the entrance of Loch Hourn, and saw him careering swiftly along the surface of the water, which was now slightly rippled with a light air of wind. It passed once abeam of us, at a distance of about 150 yards, with its head half out of the water, and we distinctly heard the whizzing noise it made as it rushed through the water. There were no organs of locomotion to be seen, and its progress was equable and smooth, like that of a log towed rapidly. Neither its appearance nor mode of progression had any resemblance to those of any known cetacean, shark, or fish of any kind. In case any of your readers should imagine that I, as well as the subject of my report am a mere myth, you will please to give my name to this communication, and I believe that among a pretty wide circle of persons who know me there is none who consider me capable of stating as true what I do not believe to be so; or so little acquainted with the sea, as not to know a whale, a porpoise, a shark, or a herring barrel, when I see them. I am Sir, your obedient servant”

“Glenelg Mame”.

“J. MACRAE”.

Miss KATE MACRAE’S narrative, written on the spot, runs as follows:

“In the yacht “Leda”, 20th. and 21th. August 1872.--We were becalmed in the sound of Sleat about 3 miles from Glenelg, the day was intensely hot, the lads were rowing slowly. I was facing the stern, when I saw about a half mile behind, a dark object suddenly emerge, about the size of a small cask. I exclaimed, and called the attention of the others to it; immediately a second, third, fourth, fifth, thing appeared like this”. (Here Miss MACRAE has drawn six bunches exactly resembling those drawn by her father, see fig. 39 p. 323). “We thought at first it was the back of a cormorant, but were undeceived by seeing the animal swim swiftly just under the surface of the water towards a rowing boat of country people which was nearer it than we were, the people evidently astonished ceased rowing, and the creature disappeared quietly without the least agitation of the water. Our boys then resumed their oars, which they had dropped to gaze, and next we saw the animal coming swiftly towards us, from the direction of the boat; it raised the water before it, and left a wake on the calm sea behind it, like what a small steam launch would. As our rowers paused again, it turned to the outer side of our yacht, and disappeared, but I noticed that something like a rounded paddle, the breadth of two hands worked to and fro raising the water in a clear dome as it went down; the colour of it a dark brown, and shape like this”. (Here Miss MACRAE has drawn a thick curved line in the form of a horse-shoe, the opening turned downwards). “In a few minutes afterwards, the row of lumps appeared again about a mile behind, and this time a triangular fin stuck up from about the 4th. lump, and apparently 10ft. the size of our jib, and the animal moved slowly along on the surface”.

“Next evening as we were slipping gently along near the mouth of Loch Hourn on the N. side, my nephew called out, that he saw the sea-serpent again. Swimming across from Skye, by the time I caught sight of it, it was far away, but showed more lumps, I counted 12, there were two sloops trying to get up into the Loch, and the crews were in their boats towing them, the animal looked 4 times as long as one of these vessels, it was swimming leisurely, and plainly pursued those vessels; then making a sweep across the mouth of the Loch came towards us, and passed not far outside the boat. I distinctly heard its rush through the water, just under the surface; the first waves it made, were unbroken, but some way from the head the water was broken, and foaming”.

“Later, at 9 P. M. just as we neared Glenelg sailing and rowing, and with a good deal of ripple on the sea, we saw it coming straight astern, then it turned away northward and passed out of sight through Kyle Rhea”.

“KATE MACRAE”.

Miss FORBES J. MACRAE wrote to me under date of July 22, 1892:

“I fancy I have had a closer view of the sea-serpent than most people. About an hour before we were becalmed and saw it rise in its length astern of us, we had been slipping down in our boat along the coast, by the help of a strong tide and a very light wind. Looking at what I could see of the water under the edge of the mainsail of our small cutter yacht, I noticed at about an oar’s length from the boat a dark brown shining creature lying on the water, or rather a part of a creature for there was neither head nor tail nor fin visible, it seemed about six feet in length and the highest part of it was about a foot out of the water. None of the others were looking that way, so I was the only one who saw it. I asked my father if porpoises were in the habit of basking on the top of the water. He said he was not aware of their being in the habit of doing so, and we thought no more of it; till the next appearance of the animal made us think that it must have been one of its ridges I had seen as we sailed just close to it”.

The following is the statement of Mr. GILBERT BOGLE in the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle of 1877, December 31:

“As considerable attention has lately been drawn in your columns to the sea-serpent, both mythological and otherwise, perhaps the following description of the strange creature seen by me and others in 1872 will be of some interest. An account of this creature, attested by credible witnesses, appeared in the May number of the Zoologist in 1873:--

“On the 20th. of August, 1872, the Rev. J. Macrae of Glenelg, Rev. David Twopenny, Miss Forbes, and Miss Kate Macrae, a servant lad, and I left Glenelg Bay in Mr. Macrae’s yacht Leda for a sail up Loch Hourn. The day was hot and calm, and, the yacht being a small one (seven tons), we had recourse to rowing in order to reach Sandaig, six miles distant, where we intended to dine. While still about a mile distant from Sandaig, one of the ladies called out that there was a shoal of porpoises playing astern, and on looking in that direction there appeared to me a number of dark objects, which at first sight seemed not unlike porpoises, making a considerable commotion on the surface of the sea, the only peculiarity being that they all followed each other in a line. As they rapidly approached, I then perceived that the black lumps which I at first thought porpoises could not be so, but were evidently parts of one and the same creature. This impression seemed to come over the minds of all at the same time, and every appearance of the creature afterwards clearly verified it”.

“I was looking at it through a binocular (we had three on board), and when it came to within one hundred yards of the stern it dived below, the surface of the sea remained agitated at the spot where it had disappeared for some time afterwards. Just before it went down, as it came head on towards our stern, it raised a succession of waves. The first was unbroken, and through it I distinctly saw the colour of the creature, and what appeared to be a small fin on the back or neck, moving rapidly sideways, and two or three yards behind the head. Its colour was a dark slaty brown, somewhat similar to that of a porpoise.”

“While we were all speculating about this strange creature, it suddenly appeared about a quarter of a mile off between us and Skye, going at a rapid rate along the calm surface of the sea, and leaving a large wake behind. It was only now that I had any idea of the creature’s length. It kept cruising about on the surface after this for more than an hour, sometimes only four or five bumps or dark raised portions of its body appearing above the surface, about the size of herring barrels, at other times up to eight. I noticed that the less the speed the more bumps appeared, always commencing from the first in rotation, and that when going very fast only one or two appeared.”

“After landing on Sandaig, where we had dinner, we started for Loch Hourn, the weather still being very calm and sultry, with hardly a cat’s-paw on the water. We had barely entered the mouth of the loch when this creature again made its appearance, proceeding in the same manner as before along the surface of the sea, sometimes coming quite close. There was a large schooner yacht not far off, in tow of a noisy steam launch, which about this time probably frightened the animal, as it was not seen again that night.”

“As evening fell, a breeze sprang up, and we reached Loch Hourn Head early next morning. After paying a visit to the Barrasdale oyster beds, we set sail for home in the afternoon, with a nice breeze on the quarter, but on reaching the mouth of the loch the wind died away again and we had to take to the sweeps. Just about the place where the animal was last seen, my attention was called by someone to a peculiar swirling of the water not far off, and I immediately noticed what was evidently the same creature swimming up to the yacht at a very rapid rate. When a short distance off it dived beneath the surface, quickly re-appearing off the starboard beam nearer than at any previous time, and going at such a great speed that I could distinctly hear the rushing sound of the breaking water. At this time there were no bumps to be seen, and I can only liken the appearance of our visitor to a log almost entirely submerged and dragged very rapidly through the sea, the water falling over each side of the head in a kind of cascade, while a series of broken waves formed immediately behind, gradually subsiding in the wake.”