Part 38

The fact that there were two animals together only claims our attention, which is of course not wonderful, as they may have been a male and a female, or a mother and a young one. One of the two must have been quite small, as it is reported: “One of those was smaller than that seen by Mr. CUMMINGS”; consequently the other was as large as or even larger than that seen by Mr. CUMMINGS, ergo the difference in size of these two must have been considerable. The occurrence of two together is reported only a very few times. Evidently these animals lead solitary lives.

We see that the dates differ, but we will take the date of 1784, relying upon the words of Mr. CUMMING’S letter of 1804: “about twenty years since”.

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=24=.--1785?--In the same letter it says:

“Sept. 10, 1811. Have heard to day further testimony respecting the Sea-Serpent of the Penobscot. A Mr. STAPLES, of Prospect, of whom I inquired as I passed, was told by a Mr. MILLER, of one of the Islands in the bay, that he had seen it; and “it was as big as a sloop’s boom, and about sixty or seventy feet long”.

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=25=.--1786, August 1.--(Zoologist, 1847, p. 1911).--

“Having seen much notice taken in the Zoologist of the question of the great sea-serpent, allow me to subjoin an extract from the log-book of a very near relative, dated August 1st., 1786, onboard the ship “General Coole”, in lat. 42° 44′ N., and long. 23° 10′ W.--”

“A very large snake passed the ship; it appeared to be 16 or 18 feet in length, and 3 or 4 feet in circumference, the back of a light ash-colour and the belly thereof yellow.”

“According to the log the ship was becalmed at the time. You may rely on the correctness of this, and any one desiring of satisfy himself may see the original log.” “S. H. Saxby; Bouchurch, Isle of Wight. September, 8, 1847.”

Of course only the length is given of the visible part, else it would be impossible that an animal of 16 feet in length and 3 or 4 feet in circumference made the impression of being a serpent or snake; the whole trunk and tail must have been hidden under water. As the colour of the animal’s back is noted as a light ash-colour, I suppose that the animal having swum a long time in the sun without diving under water, the skin had become dry and showed the ash-colour; the colour of the belly (read throat) is stated to be yellow. This statement already mentioned above we shall see repeated more than once.

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=26=.--1787?--In the letter from the Rev. Mr. WILLIAM JENKS, dated, Bath, September 17, 1817, to the Hon. Judge Davis of Boston, and printed in the Report of 1817, we read:

“Aug. 23, 1809.--Mr. CHARLES SHAW (then of Bath, now an attorney in Boston,) informed me, that a Capt. LILLIS, with whom he had sailed, observed cursorily in conversation, that he had seen off the coast a very singular fish; it appeared, said he, more like a snake than a fish, and was about forty feet long. It held its head erect, had no mane, and looked like an ordinary serpent. He asked Mr. SHAW if he had ever seen, or read, or heard of such an animal.”

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=27=.--1794?--In the same letter from the Rev. Mr. JENKS, printed in the Report of 1817, we find:

“Mr. Cummings observes that the inhabitants of Fox and Long Islands have seen such an animal”......

“When he was seen by the inhabitants of Fox and Long Islands two persons were together at both times.”

It is clear that the year 1794 must be fixed as the date for one of the two times, for in the letter from Mr. CUMMINGS to the Rev. ALDEN BRADFORD, written in Jan., 1804, and printed in the second volume of SILLIMAN’S American Journal of Science and Arts, (1820), we find the following passage:

“A few years before, perhaps ten years since, two of those large serpents were seen by two other persons on that Island” (Fox Island) “as their neighbours informed me.”

Again two individuals were seen together.

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=28=.--1799?--And the date of the second time, that the animal was seen, must be the year 1799, for in the same letter from Mr. CUMMINGS (1804), it says:

“Two young men of Fox Island, intelligent and credible, saw an animal of this kind about five years since, as they then informed me. They told me, that the serpent which they saw was about sixty feet long, and appeared to have an ascending and descending motion.”

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=29=.--1802 July.--In the letter from the Rev. Mr. WILLIAM JENKS, of Bath, to the Hon. Judge DAVIS, of Boston, dated September 17, 1817, and published in the Report of 1817, we read:

“June 28th. 1809. The Rev. Mr. ABRAHAM CUMMINGS who has been much employed in Missions in the District of Maine, and navigated his own boat among the islands, &c. in the discharge of his duty, informs me, in conversation, which was immediately written from his lips, that in Penobscot bay has been occasionally seen within these thirty years, a sea-serpent, supposed to be about sixty feet in length, and of the size of a sloop’s mast. Rev. Mr. CUMMINGS saw him, in company with his wife and daughter, and a young lady of Belfast, MARTHA SPRING; and judged he was about three times the length of his boat, which is twenty three feet. When he was seen this time he appeared not to notice the boat, though he was distant, as nearly as could be ascertained, but about fifteen rods.” ..... “A gentleman of intelligence (Rev. ALDEN BRADFORD of Wiscasset, now Secretary of the Commonwealth) inquired of Mr. CUMMINGS whether the appearance might not be produced by a number of porpoises following each other in a train; but Mr. CUMMINGS asserts, that the animal held its head out of water about five feet till he got out to sea; for when seen he was going out of the bay, and Mr. CUMMINGS was ascending it. The colour was a bluish green about the head and neck, but the water rippled so much over his body, that it was not possible to determine its tint. The shape of the head was that of a common snake, flattened, and about the size of a pail. He was seen approaching, passing, and departing. Till this, Mr. CUMMINGS was as incredulous in respect to its existence, as many of his neighbours. The weather was calm, and it was the month of August, in which month, Mr. CUMMINGS remarks, that, as far as he had heard, the serpent makes his appearance on the coast.”

“I am inclined to suppose that Mr. Cummings’ account is that, which in one of the public papers was lately alluded to, as having been communicated to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, but mislaid.”