Part 57

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=63=.--1819, August 13?--There appeared an interesting account of an eye-witness about a sea-serpent in the Boston Daily Advertiser of 19th. August, 1819. I have not been able to consult this journal. The report was translated in OKEN’s Isis of 1819, p. 1754, accompanied by the figure, made by the eye-witness. Happily I found the same in SILLIMAN’s American Journal Sc. Arts, Vol. II, Boston, 1820, but without the figure. It runs as follows:

“The recent appearance of this animal at Nahant, in the view of several hundred persons, has furnished, perhaps, more conclusive proof of his existence, than any that has before been made public. For the satisfaction of our readers, we have procured a copy of the following letter, which gives a very clear and intelligible description of his appearance and movements. We have heard verbal statements from a great number of gentlemen, all of whom agree in substance with what is here related.”

“Copy of a letter from James Prince, Marshal of the District, to the Hon. Judge Davis, dated”:

“Nahant, Aug. 16th., 1819.”

“Dear Sir,”

“I presume I may have seen what is generally thought to be the sea-serpent--I have also seen my name inserted in the evening newspaper printed at Boston on Saturday, in a communication on this subject. For your gratification, and from a desire that my name may not sanction any thing beyond what was presented and passed in a review before me, I will now state that which, in the presence of more than two hundred other witnesses, took place near the long beach of Nahant, on Saturday morning last.”

“Intending to pass two or three days at Nahant, with my family, we left Boston early on Saturday morning. On passing the halfway house, on the Salem turn pike, Mr. Smith informed us the sea-serpent had been seen the evening before at Nahant-beach, and that a vast number of people from Lynn, had gone to the beach that morning, in hopes of being gratified with a sight of him: This was confirmed at the hotel. I was glad to find I had brought my famous mast-head spy-glass with me, as it would enable me, from its form and size, to view him to advantage, if I might be so fortunate as to see him. On our arrival on the beach, we associated with a considerable number of persons, on foot and in chaises, and very soon an animal of the fish-kind made his appearance. His head appeared about three feet out of water; I counted thirteen bunches on his back: my family thought there were fifteen--he passed three times at a moderate rate across the bay, but so fleet as to occasion a foam in the water--and my family and myself, who were in carriage, judged he was fifty feet in length, and, at the extend, not more than sixty; whether, however, the wake might not add to the appearance of his length; or whether the undulation of the water, or his peculiar manner of propelling himself, might not cause the appearance of protuberances, I leave for your better judgment. The first view of the animal occasioned some agitation, and the novelty perhaps prevented that precise discrimination which afterwards took place--as he swam up the bay, we and the other spectators moved on, and kept abreast of him; he occasionally withdrew himself under water, and the idea occurred to me that this occasionally raising his head above the level of the water, was to take breath, as the time he kept under water was of an average about eight minutes; after being accustomed to view him, we became more composed; and made the annexed figure of his outlines. Mrs. Prince and the coachman having better eyes than myself, were of great assistance to me in marking the progress of the animal; they would say he is now turning, and by the aid of my glass I saw him distinctly in this movement; he did not turn without occupying some space, and taking into view the time and space which he found necessary for his ease and accommodation, I adopted it as a criterium to form some judgment of his length--I had seven distinct views of him from the long beach so called, and at some of them the animal was not more than a hundred yards distance. After being on the long beach about an hour, the animal disappeared, and I proceeded on towards Nahant; but on passing the second beach, I met Mr. James Magee, of Boston, with several ladies in a carriage, prompted by curiosity to endeavor to see the animal, and we were again gratified beyond even what we saw in the other bay; which I concluded he had left in consequence of the number of boats in the offing in pursuit of him--the noise of whose oars must have disturbed him, as he appeared to us to be a harmless timid animal. We had more than a dozen different views of him, and each similar to the other; one however so near, that the coachman exclaimed: “Oh, see his glistening eye”. Thinking I might form some calculation of his length by the time and distance of each turn; and taking an angle with my two hands of the length he exhibited, that is to say, from his head to his last protuberance, and applying the same angle to other objects, I feel satisfied of the correctness of my decision that he is sixty feet long, unless the ripple of his wake deceived me--nor my dear sir, do I undertake to say he was of the snake or eel kind, though this was the general impression on my family, the spectators and myself. Certainly it is a very strange animal. I have been accustomed to see whales, grampuses, porpoises, and other large fishes, but he partook of the appearance of none of these. The whale and the grampus would have spouted--the shark never raises his head out of water, and the porpoise skips and plays; neither of these has such appearances on the back or such a head as this animal. The shark it is true, has a fin on his back, and often the fluke of his tail is out of water; but these appendages would not display the form, and certainly not the number of protuberances, which this animal exhibited; nor is it the habit of the shark to avoid a boat. The water was extremely smooth, and the weather clear: we had been so habituated to see him, that we were cool and composed--the time occupied was from a quarter past eight to half past eleven--a cloud of witnesses exceeding two hundred, brought together for a single purpose, were all alike satisfied and united as to appearances, and as to the length and size of the animal; but you must deduct the influence which his passage through the water and the manner he propelled himself might have as to the apparent protuberances on his back, and the ripple occasioned by his motion on his real length, of all which you can judge equally well and better than myself. I must conclude there is a strange animal on our coast--and I have thought an unvarnished statement might be gratifying to a mind attached to the pursuit of natural science, and aid in the inquiries on a controverted question, which I knew to have interested you. I have ventured on the description, being also induced to hope, that if anything on the marvellous is stated as coming from me, you will correct it.

“Accept the respects and attention of

“Dear Sir, yours sincerely

“James Prince.”

We see that Mr. PRINCE uses many words to give a very short description of the animal. Yet we are able to gather the following details. Its head appeared about three feet out of the water, there were 13 or 15 bunches on its back, sometimes the rapidity was moderate, occasioning, however, a foam in the water; length 50 to 60 feet; the animal left behind it a wake; sometimes it withdrew itself under water; it appeared to be a harmless timid animal; its eyes were glistening. All these characters, external features and habits are long known to us. Mr. PRINCE first said the animal belonged to the fish-kind; afterwards, however, he dared not say whether it was of the snake or eel-kind; yet his figure shows large scales and a fish-tail. It is astonishing that the person who is so careful in his expressions, is so inaccurate when handling the pencil. The head of the animal in his figure is more that of a young duck than of a serpent or snake, which the head of the sea-serpent is said to resemble closely. The coils are badly drawn, and though 13 to 15 bunches were seen, only six are delineated. The rippling of the water on the animal’s left side and before it is well represented, on its right side, however, it is quite wrong. The two racked-formed wings are certainly the representation of the foam, caused in the water by the animal’s rapid motion. And finally the scales and the fish-tail are drawn by Mr. PRINCE though he has not seen them! I am obliged to state again that this figure is a facsimile of that which I found in OKEN’s Isis; the very one of the Boston Daily Advertiser I have had no opportunity to see.

The letter from Mr. PRINCE is translated into Dutch in the Vaderlandsche Letteroefeningen voor 1820, Tweede Stuk, Mengelwerk.

On the same day it was seen by Mr. CABOT, who wrote the following letter (SILLIMAN’s Am. Journ. Sc. Arts, II, 1820) to our well known

“Col. T. H. Perkins”

“Brookline, August 19, 1819.

“Dear Sir”

“I very willingly comply with your request to state what I saw of the Sea-Serpent at Nahant, on Saturday last, particularly as I happened to see it under favourable circumstances to form a judgment, and to considerable advantage in point of position and distance.”

“I got into my chaise about seven o’clock in the morning to come to Boston, and on reaching the long Beach observed a number of people collected there and several boats pushing off and in the offing. I was speculating on what should have occasioned so great an assemblage there without any apparent object, and finally had concluded that they were embarking in those boats on a party of pleasure to Egg Rock, or some other point.”

“I had not heard of the Sea-Serpent being in that neighbourhood, and I had not lately paid much attention to the evidences which had been given of its existence, the idea of this animal did not enter my mind at the moment.”

“As my curiosity was directed towards the boats to ascertain the course they were taking, my attention was suddenly arrested by an object emerging from the water at the distance of about one hundred or one hundred and fifty yards, which gave to my mind at the first glance the idea of a horse’s head. As my eye ranged along I perceived at a short distance eight or ten regular bunches or protuberances, and at a short interval three or four more. I was now satisfied that the Sea-Serpent was before me, and after the first moment of excitement produced by the unexpected sight of so strange a monster taxed myself to investigate his appearance as accurately as I could.”

“My first object was the Head, which I satisfied myself was serpent shaped, it was elevated about two feet from the water, and he depressed it gradually, to within six or eight inches as he moved along. I could always see under his chin, which appeared to hollow underneath or to curve downward. His motion was at that time very slow along the Beach, inclining towards the shore; he at first moved his head from side to side as if to look about him. I did not see his eyes, though I have no doubt I could have seen them if I had thought to attend to this. His bunches appeared to be not altogether uniform in size, and as he moved along some appeared to be depressed, and others brought above the surface, though I could not perceive any motion in them. My next object was to ascertain his length. For this purpose I directed my eye to several whale boats at about the same distance, one of which was beyond him, and by comparing the relative length, I calculated that the distance from the animal’s head to the last protuberance I had noticed, would be equal to about five of those boats. I felt persuaded by this examination that he could not be less than eighty feet long; as he approached the shore and came between me and a point of land which projects from the eastern end of the Beach, I had another means of satisfying myself on this point.”

“After I had viewed him thus attentively for about four or five minutes, he sunk gradually into the water and disappeared; he afterwards again made his appearance for a moment at a short distance.”

“My first reflection after the animal was gone, was, that the idea I had received from the description you gave of the animal you saw at Gloucester, in 1817, was perfectly realized in this instance; and that I had discovered nothing you had not before described. The most authentic testimony given of his first appearance there seemed to me remarkably correct; and I felt as if the appearance of this monster had been already familiar to me.”

“After remaining some two or three hours on the Beach, without again seeing him, I returned towards Nahant; and in crossing the small beach, had another good view of him, for a longer time, but at a greater distance. At this time he moved more rapidly, causing a white foam under the chin, and a long wake, and his protuberances had a more uniform appearance. At this time he must have been seen by two or three hundred persons on the beach and on the heights each side, some of whom were very favourable situated to observe him.”

“I am very respectfully”

“your obedient servant”

“Samuel Cabot.”