Part 83

=145=.--1875, July 13.--Now we come to the second statement of the same report, viz. the encounter with the animal on the 13th. of July.

On that day another or the same individual was seen again shooting itself along the surface horizontally, forty feet of its body being out of the water at a time. Consequently the animal swam with its body in a straight line, and not with vertical undulations. Again on the same day, it was seen once more, with its body standing quite perpendicular some sixty feet in the air, and evidently taking a survey towards the vessel. This case is nearly the same as that which EGEDE witnessed in 1734 near Gothaab. As it is often reported that whales and sperm-whales, when coming from the depths, do so with such an astonishing force and rapidity that they leap clear out of the water, I am convinced that the sea-serpent sometimes elevates its fore part to a considerable height as was seen by EGEDE (n^o 5), Captain ADAMS (n^o 121) and Captain DREVAR. If the height of the sea-serpent rising in the air was really sixty feet, Captain DREVAR must have seen the animal’s fore-flappers, though he did not mention them. Else I think that he exaggerated, that the height did not surpass forty feet and that the flappers remained under water. See also N^o 31.--

* * * * *

=146=.--1876, September 11.--In the number of the 15th. of January, 1877, of the Echo appeared an article by Mr. R. A. PROCTOR entitled “Strange Sea-Monsters”, wherein he quotes the following report. I have not been able to consult the Echo, but I have found it cited in Mr. WILSON’S Leisure Time Studies. Here no date, except that of September 11th., is given, but as the report appeared in the January number of 1877 of the Echo, I conclude that the appearance took place in September of 1876.

“Soon after the British steamship Nestor anchored at Shanghai, last October, John K. Webster, the captain, and James Anderson, the ship’s surgeon, appeared before Mr. Donald Spence, Acting Law Secretary in the British Supreme Court, and made affidavit to the following effect:

“On September 11, at 10.30 a. m., fifteen miles north-west of North Sand Lighthouse, in the Malacca Straights, the weather being fine and the sea smooth, the captain saw an object which had been pointed out by the third officer as “a shoal!” Surprised at finding a shoal in such a well-known track, I watched the object, and found that it was in motion, keeping up the same speed with the ship, and retaining about the same distance as first seen. The shape of the creature I would compare to that of a gigantic frog. The head, of a pale yellowish colour, was about twenty feet in length, and six feet of the crown were above the water. I tried in vain to make out the eyes and mouth; the mouth may, however, have been below water. The head was immediately connected with the body, without any indication of a neck. The body was about forty-five or fifty feet long, and of an oval shape, perfectly smooth, but there may have been a slight ridge along the spine. The back rose some five feet above the surface. An immense tail, fully one hundred and fifty feet in length, rose a few inches above the water. This tail I saw distinctly from its junction with the body to its extremity; it seemed cylindrical, with a very slight taper, and I estimate its diameter at four feet. The body and tail were marked with alternate bands of stripes, black and pale yellow in colour. The stripes were distinct to the very extremity of the tail. I cannot say whether the tail terminated in a fin or not. The creature possessed no fins or paddles so far as we could perceive. I cannot say if it had legs. It appeared to progress by means of an undulatory motion of the tail in a vertical plane (that is, up and down).

“Mr. Anderson, the surgeon, confirmed the captain’s account in all essential respects. He regarded the creature as an enormous marine salamander. “It was apparently of a gelatinous (that is, flabby) substance. Though keeping up with us, at the rate of nearly ten knots an hour, its movements seemed lethargic. I saw no legs or fins, and am certain that the creature did not blow or spout in the manner of a whale. I should not compare it for a moment to a snake. The only creatures it could be compared with are the newt or frog tribe.””

As the captain asserts that the animal kept up the same speed as the ship, and Mr. ANDERSON that “though keeping up with us, at the rate of nearly ten knots an hour, its movements seemed lethargic”, we must conclude that the animal moved by paddling with its flappers, and that with this simple mechanism it is able to propel itself at a rate of ten knots an hour, steadily and uniformly. The tail of the animal, which trailed inactively behind the trunk, must of course have been brought in motion by the action of the water, so that it is easy to understand that the captain thought that “it appeared to progress by means of an undulatory motion of the tail in a vertical plane (that is, up and down)”. It is also very natural that the captain declared that “the creature possessed no fins or paddles as far as we could perceive. I cannot say if it had legs”, and that the surgeon ANDERSON confirmed it: “I saw no fins”; the flappers of the animal being entirely hidden under water.--The captain says: “The shape of the creature I would compare to that of a gigantic frog”. According to his description, however, the shape might have been better compared with that of a gigantic newt. This is done by Mr. ANDERSON, as we have seen above, who says at the end of his statement, “the only creatures it could be compared with are the newt or frog tribe”; he “should not compare it for a moment to a snake”. This is one of the few reports of the animal having been observed swimming in full length on the surface of the water. This I think very comprehensible. Generally the animal is swimming with the head and a part of the neck raised some feet out of the water, and in this case the trunk and the tail must carry their weight, so that the trunk will be visible only a few inches above the water, and the tail hidden for a greater part under it. But as soon as the animal drops its neck and head so that only the upper part of both remain above the surface, their weight is carried by the water itself, and body and tail will become more visible, lying almost à fleur d’eau (to use Captain M’QUHAE’S term). I firmly believe that this is also one of the few occasions that the animal swam with its neck contracted. In this situation it is very difficult to decide whether the animal has a neck or not, and so the captain’s assertion “the head was immediately connected with the body, without any indication of a neck” is very conceivable. From the hind part of the head the contracted neck gradually grows thicker towards the shoulders, where the animal seems to have its largest diameter, and from here it tapers towards the hind flappers, so that seen from the ship, both neck and body, being visible only a few feet above the surface, must have given rise to the description of the captain “the body was of an oval shape”. Again the position was very favourable to observe the exact place where the tail begins, and that the animal has there its pelvis and hind flappers, so that, being there broader than at the tail-root, the captain observed “this tail I saw distinctly from its junction with the body to its extremity”. The colour of the head being described as a pale yellowish one, and that of the body and the tail alternately black and pale yellow, I conclude that the animal having swum for some time in this manner, had been partly dried up in the sun, while “catspaws” washing over it again coloured it black here and there. As to its length I am inclined to believe that Mr. Webster is mistaken. I cannot admit that “the head was twenty feet, and six feet of the crown were above the water”, nor can I set much value upon his assertion that the tail was “fully one hundred and fifty feet in length”. I willingly admit that the head measured eight or nine feet, and the tail about one hundred feet. As the animal swam just at the surface it is clear to me that no mouth was visible, and I think that even the nose tip will only have been a few inches above the water. As no eyes were seen, the distance must have been rather great; but this is not mentioned. The body was perfectly smooth, but there may have been a slight ridge along the spine. Probably this was the mane, not quite discernable on account of the distance. The tail is described as cylindrical, tapering to its end, and estimated at four feet in diameter (at its junction, evidently).--It is clear that the extreme end of the tail was under water, for Mr. WEBSTER “cannot say whether the tail terminated in a fin or not”. As to the supposition of Mr. ANDERSON that the animal was “apparently of a gelatinous (that is, flabby) substance”, I cannot attach much importance to this, as it is impossible to decide this of an animal swimming at some distance, even of a calamary. The body was smooth, and that’s all. That the creature did not blow or spout like a whale, is very natural, as there was evidently no reason for doing so, the nose being constantly above the surface, and the animal swimming without diving from time to time. A whale, sleeping on the surface, does not spout either, as in that case the spout-holes are above the surface, and the breathing is regular and without puffing. So I think I have shown that all the parts of the statement are correct, except the estimated length.

Mr. ANDREW WILSON relying upon the statement of Mr. ANDERSON, adds in a note:

“It is just possible that the “flabby” or “gelatinous” creature mentioned in this narrative was a giant cuttle-fish, whose manner of swimming, colour, absence of limbs, etc., would correspond with the details of the narrative. The “immense tail” might be the enormous arms of such a creature trailing behind the body as it swam backwards, propelled by jets of water from the breathing “funnel”.”

My objections against this supposition are first, that, as I have already stated above, it is impossible to decide whether an animal is gelatinous or flabby, until we have touched and handled it, and secondly, that the manner of swimming of a calamary is not so as Mr. WILSON believes; for the enormous arms of such a creature are not trailing behind the body, when it is swimming backwards, but are coiled up and retracted into two peculiar arm pockets; and thirdly, that the colour of a calamary does not correspond with the colour stated in the report, but is a very light grey one, mixed with red or crimson, intermixed with purple.

* * * * *

In the number of February 3d, 1877 of the Illustrirte Zeitung, an article entitled “Zur Geschichte der Seeschlange” appeared, written by an anonymous writer. Evidently the report of Captain DREVAR, which appeared in the Liverpool newspapers of the 10th. of January of that year, was the stimulus to this essay. The writer superficially treats of several already known accounts and reports of sea-serpents viz: our n^{os}. 144, 145, and 5, the tales of PONTOPPIDAN, the animal of Stronsa (p. 61-88), the appearances quoted by the Boston Linnaean Society (1817), our n^o. 118, the hoax of the Daphne (1848, Oct. 21), our n^{os}. 129 and 130, the cheat of Dr. KOCH (1845), and the true sea-snakes (Hydrophidae). In two of his assertions this anonymous author is incorrect, viz. It was not Captain M’QUHAE who asserted that the animal’s mouth was large enough to admit of a tall man standing upright in it, but an anonymous contributor to the Times; Mr. HENDERSON was master of the ship Mary Ann, and not of the Daphne; the master of this ship was called TRELAWNEY. I consider these four names as Active (see my Chapter on hoaxes p. 34.)

* * * * *

=147=.--1877, May 21.--In Mr. ANDREW WILSON’S Leisure Time Studies we read in a note (p. 111):

“An instance of a large sea-snake being seen in its native seas is afforded by the report of the master of the barque Georgina from Rangoon, which (as reported in the newspapers of September 4, 1877) put into Falmouth for orders on the 1st. September. On May 21, 1877, in latitude 2° N. and longitude 90° 53′ E., a large serpent about forty or fifty feet long, grey and yellow in colour, and ten or eleven inches thick, was seen by the crew. It was visible for twenty minutes, during which time it crossed the bow, and ultimately disappeared under the port-quarter.”

The dimensions are clearly those of the visible part of the animal. The colour being stated as grey and yellow makes me conclude that the animal had swum for a long time with its body in a straight line, without diving and that the part, exposed to the sunbeams, had dried up.

Mr. ANDREW WILSON adds: “There can be little doubt that this sea-serpent was simply a largely developed marine snake”. I’ll not contest his opinion.--

* * * * *

=148=.--1877, June 2.--Not less important than others is the report of the Osborne. In Mr. =Lee’s= Sea Monsters Unmasked we read p. 93 the following about this occurrence:

“In June, 1877 Commander Pearson reported to the Admiralty that on the 2nd. of that month, he and other officers of the Royal Yacht Osborne, had seen, off Cape Vito, Sicily, a large marine animal, of which the following account and sketches were furnished by Lieutenant Haynes, and were confirmed by Commander Pearson, Mr. Douglas Haynes, Mr. Forsyth, and Mr. Moore, engineer.”

“Lieutenant Haynes writes, under date, “Royal Yacht Osborne, Gibraltar, June 6”: On the evening of that day, the sea being perfectly smooth, my attention was first called by seeing a ridge of fins above the surface of the water, extending about thirty feet, and varying from five to six feet in height. On inspecting it by means of a telescope, at about one and a-half cables’ distance, I distinctly saw a head, two flappers, and about thirty feet of an animal’s shoulder. The head, as nearly as I could judge, was about six feet thick, the neck narrower, about four to five feet, the shoulder about fifteen feet across, and the flappers each about fifteen feet in length. The movements of the flappers were those of a turtle, and the animal resembled a huge seal, the resemblance being strongest about the back of the head. I could not see the length of the head, but from its crown or top to just below the shoulder (where it became immersed), I should reckon about fifty feet. The tail end I did not see, being under water, unless the ridge of fins to which my attention was first attracted, and which had disappeared by the time I got a telescope, were really the continuation of the shoulder to the end of the object’s body. The animal’s head was not always above water, but was thrown upwards, remaining above for a few seconds at a time, and then disappearing; there was an entire absence of “blowing” or “spouting”. I herewith beg to enclose a rough sketch, showing the view of the “ridge of fins”, and also of the animal in the act of propelling itself by its two fins.”

Evidently Mr. LEE has not communicated the whole account as it was in the original periodical, nor did he mention the name of the periodical.

The Times of June 14th., 1877 mentions:

“The Osborne, 2, paddle royal yacht, Commander Hugh L. Pearson, which arrived at Portsmouth from the Mediterranean on Monday, and at once proceeded to her moorings in the harbour, has forwarded an official report to the Admiralty, through the commander-in-chief (Admiral Sir George Elliot, K. C. B.), respecting a sea-monster which she encountered during her homeward voyage. At about five o’clock in the afternoon of the 2nd. instant, the sea being exceptionally calm, while the yacht was proceeding round the north coast of Sicily towards Cape Vito, the officer on the watch observed a long ridge of fins, each about six feet long, moving slowly along. He called for a telescope, and was at once joined by other officers. The Osborne was steaming westward at ten and a half knots an hour, and, having a long passage before her, could not stay to make minute observations. The fins were progressing in an eastwardly direction, and as the vessel more nearly approached them, they were replaced by the foremost part of a gigantic sea-monster. Its skin was, so far as could be seen, altogether devoid of scales, appearing rather to resemble in sleekness that of a seal. The head was bullet-shaped, with an elongated termination, being somewhat similar in form to that of a seal, and was about six feet in diameter. Its features were only seen by one officer, who described them as like those of an alligator. The neck was comparatively narrow, but so much of the body as could be seen, developed in form like that of gigantic turtle, and from each side extended two fins, about fifteen feet in length, by which the monster paddled itself along after the fashion of a turtle. The appearance of the monster is accounted for by a submarine volcano, which occurred north of Galita, in the Gulf of Tunis, about the middle of May, and was reported at the time by a steamer which was struck by a detached fragment of submarine rock. The disturbance below water, it is thought probable, may have driven up the monster from its “native element”, as the site of the eruption is only one hundred miles from where it was reported to have been seen”.

The Graphic of June 16, 1877, tells us p. 563, 3d. column:

“The Sea-Serpent has once more made his appearance, and this time the officers of the Royal Yacht Osborne are the witnesses to his existence. The Commander, says the Portsmouth Times and Navel Gazette, has sent an official report to the Admiralty, stating that on the 2nd. inst. a curious creature was seen off the coast of Sicily in a smooth sea. The serpent was “of immense length, with a smooth scaleless skin, and a ridge of fins, 15 feet in length, and 6 ft. apart along the back, a bullet-shaped head, and a face like an alligator. It moved slowly, and was distinctly seen by all the officers.”

The same Journal of the 30th. of June publishes the following account and sketch by Lieutenant HAYNES: