Part 55

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=56=.--1818 July.--(Phil. Mag. LIV, 1819). The second Sea Serpent described by Mr. RAFINESQUE SCHMALTZ (for he believes there are several species) is called by him:

“Capt. BROWN’s Sea-Serpent. This fish was observed by Capt. Brown in a voyage from America to St. Petersburg, in July 1818, near 60° N. latitude and 8° W. longitude, or north of Ireland. In swimming the head, neck and forepart of the body stood upright like a mast: it was surrounded by porpoises and fishes. It was smooth, without scales, and had eight gills under the neck; which decidedly evinces that it is not a snake, but a new genus of fish! belonging to the eighth order Tremapnea, 28th. family Ophictia, and 3d. subfamily Catremia, along with the genera Sphagebranchus and Symbranchus of Bloch, which differ by having only one or two round gills under the neck. I shall call this new genus Octipos (meaning eight gills beneath); head depressed, mouth transverse, large, eight transverse gills under the neck, and its specific name and definition will be Octipos bicolor. Dark brown above, muddy white beneath: head obtuse. Capt. Brown adds, that the head was two feet long, the mouth fifteen inches, and the eyes over the jaws, similar to the horse’s; the whole length might be 58 feet.”

Immediately we recognize our well-known Sea-Serpent, an individual of which the length is estimated at 58 feet, which held its head and very long neck upright whilst swimming. Captain BROWN says: “and the forepart of the body”; of course, for he thought to see a snake; if he had really seen the forepart of the body, (trunk) he would have seen the shoulders and the fore-flappers. It was surrounded by porpoises and fishes. Evidently the animal swam between them with the purpose to snatch one of them. It had a smooth skin, no scales, and eight gills under its neck. Dark brown above (i. e. on the dorsal part of head and neck), muddy white beneath (i. e. on its throat); head obtuse (read rather obtuse, seen from above or from below, or in front; just from aside it is rather pointed). The head was two feet long, the mouth fifteen inches (of course estimated dimensions), and the eyes over the jaws similar to those of a horse (this definition was caused by the heavy eye-brows and by the little bunch above each eye). The whole description is exactly that of our animal in the above-mentioned position and seen from a certain direction. For “eight gills” we may safely read “eight gillsplits”, or eight splits caused by and lying between nine folds or wrinkles, which in their turn are caused by the animal bending its head rectangularly towards the throat. Such folds or wrinkles are also seen in sea-lions, when they make the same motion, and stout corpulent persons will know what is meant by a double chin!

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=57=.--1818, July?--Mr. A. DE CAPELL BROOKE in his Travels through Sweden in 1820, p. 187, says:--

“The fishermen at Sejerstad said a sea-serpent was seen two years ago in the Folden Fjord, the length of which, as far as it was visible was 60 feet. This had been told them by those who had seen it in the Folden.”

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=58=.--1818, August?--At p. 203 the same author mentions:

“On being asked (viz. the merchant of Fieldvigen) his opinion respecting the serpent, he said he had never seen it himself, though others had in that neighbourhood.”

=59=.--1818, August 19.--In 1818 in the United States many rewards were offered to whalers to catch the animal, and many attempts were made to do this, and to bring it home, dead or alive. Amongst others this was the case at Boston. In the copy of the Report of a Committee of 1817, which I borrowed from the Library of the Royal University of Göttingen, there was a paragraph from a newspaper of August 21, 1818, the head or title of which was not noted down; the cutting runs as follows:

“Boston Aug. 21.”

“Transmitted by our N. Y. correspondents.”

“Capt. Rich, who went from here a few days since, in pursuit of the sea-serpent, writes the concern as follows:

“Squam River, Aug. 20th., 12 o’clock.--After several unsuccessful attempts, we have at length fastened to this strange thing called the sea-serpent. We struck him fairly, but the harpoon soon drew out. He has not been seen since, and I fear the wound he received will make him more cautious how he approaches these shores. Since my last, yesterday, we have been constantly in pursuit of him; by day he always keeps a proper distance from us, to prevent our striking oars. But a few hours since, I thought we were sure of him, for I hove the harpoon into him as fairly as ever a whale was struck; took from us about 20 fathoms of warp before we could wind the boat, with as much swiftness as a whale. We had but a short ride when we were all loose from him to our sore disappointment.”

“Rich’d. Rich.”

“Gloucester, Aug. 20.--As I thought it would be interesting to you to hear from Capt. Rich, and as he is at some distance, I will give you some particulars of his cruise. On Monday last he sailed from this in a large whale boat, and two smaller ones well manned. My brother commanded one of the boats. Yesterday they met the Serpent off Squam, and chased him about seven hours, when they closed with him. He passed directly under the bows of Capt. Rich’s boat; he immediately threw the harpoon, which pierced him about two feet; he drew the boat a considerable distance but went with such a velocity that he broke that part of the boat through which the rope passed and drew out the harpoon. I hope they will have another opportunity before they give up the chase.”

“He has no scales on him, and no bunches on his back, but his skin is smooth, and looks similar to an eel. In the attack, Capt. Rich had one of his hands wound. These particulars I have in a letter from my brother.”

“Saml. Dexter.”

As far as I can judge after having read what I could find about the Sea-Serpent, this is the only time that the animal was struck with a harpoon. Evidently the animal then swam with its body in a straight line. Interesting to us are the words: “He has no scales on him, and no bunches on his back, but his skin is smooth, and looks similar to an eel”.

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The attempts mentioned above were continued, and, as my readers already read in my Chapter on hoaxes, ended with a hoax; at last a large tunny was brought in, and many persons believed it to be the animal! Among those who were present there was a Mr. ANDREWS NORTON; he wrote, Sept. 11, 1818, a letter about this affair to Mr. GEORGE BANCROFT, an extract from which is also inserted in our Chapter on hoaxes. I will repeat here his last words:

“I have only to add that if you should learn that any one of the German literati is writing a volume upon Sea-Serpents, I beg you will assure him that we” (Mr. NORTON and Prof. PECK) “do not consider the circumstance connected with the deception just mentioned, as affecting the evidence before obtained for their real existence.”--

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The Quarterly Journal of Literature, Science and the Arts R. Inst. Gr. Brit. repeats in its Vol. VII, London, 1819, the whole paper of Prof. PECK, and a translation into German appeared in OKEN’s Isis of 1819.

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The well-known RAFINESQUE SCHMALTZ, when in America, made the sea-serpent a subject of study and inquiry as Prof. PECK had done. He too wrote a paper about it, entitled: Dissertation on Water-Snakes, Sea-Snakes, and Sea-Serpents. It seems that his dissertation appeared in an American Journal or in American Transactions, and that it was afterwards reprinted in the Philosophical Magazine, Vol. LIV, 1819. He is a believer in Sea-Serpents, is evidently convinced that several species exist, belonging to the family of the Hydrophidae, or real Sea-Snakes.

After having mentioned 9 species of real Sea-Snakes, of which the last was 8 to 10 feet long, he goes on: