Part 75

Most probably this appearance took place in the Indian Ocean between latitude 10 and 20 S. and longitude 50 and 70 E.

If one of the gentlemen of the Cleopatra is still in the land of the living, he will greatly oblige me by sending me some more details of the external appearance of the animal, and of the place where the animal was seen.

* * * * *

“The Rev. Alfred Charles Smith, M. A., an excellent naturalist, who passed the three summer months of 1850 in Norway, and who published” his Notes on Observations in Natural History during a Tour in Norway “in the Zoologist for that and the following year, thus alludes to his own inquiries, which, if they add nothing to the amount of fact accumulated, add weight to the testimonies already adduced”. (GOSSE, Romance of Natural History, 13th. Ed., Vol. I., p. 282.)

“Being in the country of the renowned Bishop Pontoppidan, and in the fjords which are generally claimed as the home, or, at any rate, as one of the habitations of the sea-serpent, whose existence seems yet to be a disputed point in England, I lost no opportunity of making inquiries of all I could see, as to the general belief in the country regarding the animal in question; but all, with one single exception--naval officers, sailors, boatmen, and fishermen--concurred in affirming most positively that such an animal did exist, and had been repeatedly seen off their coasts and fjords, though I was never fortunate enough to meet a man who could boast of having seen him with his own eyes. All, however, agreed in unhesitating belief as to his existence and frequent appearance; and all seemed to marvel very much at the scepticism of the English, for refusing credence to what to the minds of the Norwegians seemed so incontrovertible. The single exception to which I have alluded, was a Norwegian officer, who ridiculed what he called the credulity or gullibility of his countrymen; though I am bound to add my belief, that he did this, not from any decided opinion of his own, but to make a show of superior shrewdness in the eyes of an Englishman, who, he at once concluded, must undoubtedly disbelieve the existence of the marine monster. That Englishman, however, certainly partakes of the credulity of the Northmen, and cannot withhold his belief in the existence of some huge inhabitant of those northern seas, when, to his mind, the fact of his existence has been so clearly proved by numerous eye-witnesses, many of whom were too intelligent to be deceived, and too honest to be doubted.”

* * * * *

The reader will remember the splendid hoax of the New York Tribune (1852); now Mr. ROBERT FRORIEP in his Tagsberichte über die Fortschritte der Natur- und Heilkunde, no 486, already doubted this report. After some time (n^o. 491) he communicated to his readers that according to the Philadelphia Bulletin, the whole was a hoax, but to show them how firm a believer Mr. FRORIEP, nevertheless, remained, he adds:

“This, however, will not prevent us from bestowing further attention on the subject of the Sea-Serpent.”

* * * * *

=124=.--1850?--The following evidence may be called one of the more interesting which tell about the habits of the sea-serpent. In the Zoologist of 1862, p. 7850, we read:

“Off Madeira, on board R. M. S. Thames. Made acquaintance with a Captain Christmas, of the Danish Navy, a proprietor in Santa Cruz, and holding some office about the Danish Court. He told me he once saw a sea-serpent between Iceland and the Faroe Islands. He was lying in to a gale of wind, in a frigate of which he had the command, when an immense shoal of porpoises rushed by the ship, as if pursued, and lo and behold a creature with a neck moving like that of a swan, about the thickness of a man’s waist, with a head like a horse, raised itself slowly and gracefully from the deep, and seeing the ship it immediately disappeared again, head foremost, like a duck diving. He saw it only for a few seconds; the part above water seemed about eighteen feet in length. He is a singularly intelligent man, and by no means one to allow his imagination to run away with him.--Stephen Cave, M. P. for Shoreham; 35, Wilson Place, April 29, 1861, in a letter to Mr. Gosse.”

It is a very remarkable fact that we meet here the sea-serpent between Iceland and the Far-Oer, a place situated between the two most frequented parts of the North Atlantic, i. e. the coasts of Norway and the coasts of the United States. But it is not the first time; the readers will remember the report of HANS EGEDE (n^o. 5) and that of Capt. BROWN (n^o. 56). Remarkable, too, is the fact that the sea-serpent now made its appearance in a gale of wind. Is this not a matter of surprise as everywhere else is stated that it appears only in fine weather? Is it not reasonable therefore, to conclude that the animal feels comfortable in fine weather, but that, being an air-breathing animal it must come to the surface from time to time and may consequently be seen at times when there is wind? There is the statement of Captain M’QUHAE, who speaks of a “breeze” and here we meet with “a gale of wind”. It is also worthy of our notice that Capt. CRISTMAS mentions the immense shoal of porpoises rushing by the ship, as if pursued, and a sea-serpent making its appearance. I need not remind my readers of the same observation of some gentlemen near Nova Scotia (n^o. 97). Later on we shall have the report in which a sea-serpent gripped “a whale” (of the smaller kind) in its fin, and we have already learned that a sea-serpent (n^o. 54) was engaged with “a whale” (of the smaller kind).

Not less important is the description of the long neck, moving like that of a swan, and disappearing head foremost like a duck diving. Nearly exactly the same thing was observed in 1879, April 5.

The thickness of the neck was that of a man’s waist, the part above the water measured eighteen feet in length, and yet the foreflappers remained hidden under water. The head is described as resembling that of a horse, which may be the result of the animal bearing a mane, and when first rising out of the water, holding its head in a nearly right angle with the neck. Moreover the nostrils might have been widely opened. The animal of Capt. M’QUHAE had also a neck of one foot and a third in diameter; head and neck had a length of about twenty feet, for at about twenty feet in the rear of the head was seen the animal’s fore flapper. So we may conclude that these two individuals were of the same or nearly of the same length.

* * * * *

=125=.--1853?--Dr. TRAILL says in the Proceedings of the Royal Society at Edinburgh, n^o. 44, May, 1854, that it “is said to have been seen lately in some of their fjords.”

* * * * *

=126=.--1854, September 4.--(Illustrated London News, for 1855, February 17.--)

“It is reported by the British Brig Albeona, arrived at Liverpool, that on the 4th. of September last, about five in the afternoon, in lat. 38 S., long 13 E., while the ship was under a light wind and in smooth water, a sea-monster of great size and singular appearance was descried. Attention was first directed to it by the broken action of the water, which otherwise was smooth all around. The animal was discovered protruding its head above water to the length of about 30 feet, at an angle of 60 degrees to the horizon. His head was about 12 feet long and was marked by a white stripe or streak down each side. At about six feet from the termination of the streaks, which were presumed to be its jaws, there was a protuberance on its back like a small water-cask. The creature kept its mouth shut, but its eyes were plainly visible. At the point of contact with the water the body seemed about as much as the ship’s long-boat round. The general colour of the body was black, but under the jaw was a quantity of loose skin, like a pouch, of a lighter colour than the rest of the animal. While under observation he dipped under water three times, remaining submerged about a minute each time. From the broken action of the water at different points, it seemed as if protuberances, similar to that on the back existed on various parts of the body. From the best conjecture that could be made, it was computed at 180 feet in length over all.”

The length of the head may be somewhat exaggerated, the largest dimensions admissible are 6 feet in breadth and about 8 feet in length, as we shall afterwards observe from one of the most recent reports. It is a remarkable fact that here mention is made of a white stripe or streak down on each side of the head, presumed to be its jaws. In the deposition of Captain FINNEY (n^o. 34) too, we read “It had a white stripe extending the whole length of the head just above the water, there where the underjaw must have been”. And in the figures of the animal seen by the gentlemen of the Daedalus (fig. 28, 29, 30) the underjaw is drawn white, and described whitish brown or yellowish white. The protuberance on its back (read on the back of its neck) was a fold in the animal’s skin, as may be seen in the sea-lions in our Zoological Gardens, when they contract their long necks, and then the other “protuberances, similar to that on the back” were of the same character. This character of having bunches occasionally, is well known to us. Or all these protuberances were merely vertical undulations.

Attention was first paid to it by the broken action of the water, which otherwise was smooth all around. So the animal first swam for a moment just below the surface, a habit which we have often observed in foregoing reports. The general colour of the body was black, but under the jaw was a quantity of loose skin, like a pouch, of a lighter colour than the rest of the animal. As to the description of the colour of the animal’s throat, it agreed with foregoing statements. As to the loose skin, and the pouch, this is also only explicable by the animal’s having a skin just like sea-lions. It is so loose and folds so easily, that if the head is bent a little downward, or if the neck is somewhat contracted, several folds are seen, which led Captain BROWN (n^o. 56) to mention “eight gills under the neck”. He had better have written “gill-splits”, meaning the furrows between the folds.--The length of 180 feet may be somewhat exaggerated, though we will afterwards prove that individuals of still greater length must exist.

* * * * *

=127=.--1855, August?--In the letter from Capt. G. H. HARRINGTON to Rear-Admiral W. A. B. HAMILTON, dated Liverpool, February 8, 1858, which letter will be inserted afterwards, we read:

“I am informed by Messrs. Lamport and Holt, shipowners of this place, that one of their captains reported a similar thing about two years ago, off the Island of St. Helena, but they took no further notice of it, supposing that he might have been deceived.”

I am convinced that the captain really saw a sea-serpent. The reader will, I hope, be convinced of it himself, after having read Captain HARRINGTON’s report (n^o. 131).

* * * * *

=128=.--1856, March 30.--(Illustrated London News of the 3d. of May, 1856).

“To the Editor of the Illustrated London News.”