Part 77

“As I have stated, the distance the animal kept from shore was not more than 200 yards; its length was about 200 feet, but its thickness I cannot tell, the upper part of the body only being visible. The head could be seen but indistinctly, as he raised it at intervals, as shown in the sketch. I consider the protuberance to be the upper part of the head, but I could not discover the eyes, notwithstanding the short distance, and the telescope which was a pretty good one. The colour of the animal was a dark dull colour, except the head, which was maculated with large white spots. The weather at this time was very calm, with a light northwesterly breeze. Besides myself, the serpent was seen by Mr. Hall, Mr. Murray, Mrs. and Miss Biccard, my two sons, and my coachman, who all saw it distinctly.”

“Yours, &c.,

“Biccard.”

Nobody can help laughing when he sees this figure, representing something very much like a black buoy, with white streaks and spots, and glittering in the sun, having a long rope attached to it! It is, however, pretty well done for one who cannot draw. As in so many other instances the figures and the text complete each other. The animal appears here nearly in the same position as it did in the Harbour of Gloucester, in 1817. The same astonishing lateral flexibility! “It lay down, in turning, in the form of a staple or horse-shoe” we have learned on that occasion, and “in doing so it nearly touched its head with its tail”, “the tail and the head then appeared only to be a few yards one from another”, once “it lay down in the form of an S”, &c. Though the Doctor does not describe this position, his figures tell it us. As the second ball apparently startled it, it changed its position, straightened itself out, disappeared, and came up after ten minutes, about forty yards further off. It behaved in the same way in the Harbour of Gloucester. The length may again be somewhat exaggerated, though I do not think such to be the case. The white streaks and spots on the head may have been the shining reflexion of day or sunlight, the head being thoroughly wet, as the animal raised and dropped it at intervals, which made the water run down every time, but it is also very possible that the individual was really spotted on its head.

* * * * *

=131=.--1857, December 12.--(The Times of February 5, 1858; the Zoologist for 1858, p. 5989.).

“I beg to enclose you a copy of an extract from the meteorological journal kept by me on board the ship Castilian, on a voyage from Bombay to Liverpool. I have sent the original to the Board of Trade, for whom the observations have been made during my last voyage. I am glad to confirm a statement made by the commander of Her Majesty’s ship Daedalus, some years ago, as to the existence of such an animal as that described by him.--G. H. Harrington; 14 and 14¹⁄₂, South Castle Street, Liverpool, February 2, 1858.--

“Copy of an Extract from the Board of Trade Meteorological Journal, kept by Captain Harrington, of the ship Castilian, from Bombay to Liverpool.”

“Ship Castilian, December 12, 1857, north-east end of St. Helena, bearing north-west, distance 10 miles.”

“At 6.30 p. m., strong breezes and cloudy, ship sailing about twelve miles per hour. While myself and officers were standing on the lee-side of the poop, looking towards the island, we were startled by the sight of a huge marine animal, which reared its head out of the water within twenty yards of the ship, when it suddenly disappeared for about half a minute, and then made its appearance in the same manner again, showing us distinctly its neck and head about ten or twelve feet out of the water. Its head was shaped like a long nun-buoy, and I suppose the diameter to have been seven or eight feet in the largest part, with a kind of scroll, or tuft of loose skin, encircling it about two feet from the top; the water was discoloured for several hundred feet from its head, so much so that, on its first appearance, my impression was that the ship was in broken water, produced, as I supposed, by some vulcanic agency since the last time I passed the island; but the second appearance completely dispelled those fears, and assured us that it was a monster of extraordinary length, which appeared to be moving slowly towards the land. The ship was going too fast to enable us to reach the mast-head in time to form a correct estimate of its extreme length, but from what we saw from the deck we conclude that it must have been over two hundred feet long. The boatswain and several of the crew who observed it from the top-gallant forecastle, state that it was more than double the length of the ship, in which case it must have been five hundred feet. Be that as it may, I am convinced that it belonged to the serpent tribe; it was of a dark colour about the head, and was covered with several white spots. Having a press of canvas on the ship at the time, I was unable to round to without risk, and therefore was precluded from getting another sight of this leviathan of the deep.”

“George Henry Harrington, Commander.”

“William Davies, Chief Officer.”

“Edward Wheeler, Second Officer.”

The animal seen by Captain HARRINGTON was no doubt a sea-serpent, of which at first sight, only the head and a small portion of the neck were exposed to the eyes of the spectators. Afterwards, when the animal moved slowly towards the land, its whole length must have been visible, and estimated at about two hundred feet. The head was seen in such a direction that it resembled a “nun-buoy”. The diameter of the head may have been six feet. At a moment that the animal contracted its neck, an annular fold was formed round the neck just behind the head, as may be seen in our sea-lions, and which led Captain HARRINGTON to write “with a kind of scroll, or tuft of loose skin, encircling it about two feet from the top” of the head, i. e. somewhat behind the occiput. The discolouring of the water has of course nothing at all to do with the animal or its appearance.

Some days afterwards (Times of February 13, 1858; Zoologist for 1858, p. 5990) this document was followed by an account of FREDERIC SMITH, who stated that on December 28th., 1848, commanding the ship PEKIN, they saw an extraordinary creature, which, when harpooned, and hoisted on board, proved to be a piece of a gigantic sea-weed, twenty feet long. “So like a huge living monster did this appear, that, had circumstances prevented my sending a boat to it, I should certainly have believed I had seen the great sea-snake.” Captain SMITH firmly believes that the animals of the Daedalus and of the Castilian were pieces of the same weed.

Hereupon, “An officer of H. M. S. Daedalus” wrote an apology in the Times of 16th. February, which we have inserted in n^o. 118. This letter was immediately followed in the same paper of the same date by the two following:

“Sir.--A letter appears in the Times of to-day signed “Frederic Smith” on the subject of the sea-serpent.

“The writer has this advantage over others who have reported the occasional appearance of what he fairly calls “this queer fish”--that he has handled as well as seen it. Still there would seem to be a considerable variety in the genus, for, while the specimen obtained by the Pekin in 1848 was 4 inches in diameter and 20 feet in length, that seen from the Circassian is described, if I remember rightly, in your paper of 4th. inst. as 10 feet or 11 feet in diameter, and upwards of 200 feet in length.”

“In this latter instance it was seen only, and but a passing sight; and testimony of this kind is just that which naturalists may be slow to receive as evidence of any new fact; nevertheless the practised vision of the Circassian’s commander should go for something, and as it would appear from the following letter that Captain Harrington is to be in town next week and ready to answer any questions, it might be worth the while of some of our philosophers to examine a little into the question of what Capt. Harrington and his officers really did see.”

“I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant

“Blackheath, February 12.” “W. A. B. Hamilton.”

For Circassian of course read Castilian.

“14, South Castle Street, Liverpool, February 8.

“Dear Sir,--I am in receipt of your favour of the 6th. of February, and should be glad if my communication to the Times might be instrumental in dispelling many doubts respecting the existence of such a monster as that described by myself and my officers.”

“I communicated it to Capt. Schomberg, R. N., of this place, in the course of conversation, who advised me by all means to send a copy of it to the Times.”

“Notwithstanding the assertions of men of science to the contrary I am now sure that such animals exist. I could no more be deceived than (as a seaman) I could mistake a porpoise for a whale. If it had been at a great distance it would have been different, but it was not above 20 yards from the ship.”

“I am of opinion that this animal makes its appearance at the surface at long intervals only. 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, as your friend seems to do, that he might have been deceived.”

“Twenty people, including Mrs. Harrington and my two officers, saw it as distinctly as I now see the gas light which I am writing by. I am well known in London, having commanded a steam transport during the Russian war belonging to the North of Europe Steam Navigation Company.”