66 Traiisactions of the 



sail would show in the water, there was at tlie very least sixty feet 

 of the animal a fleur (Teem (at the surface of the water), no por- 

 tion of which was, to our perception, used in propelling it through 

 the water, either by vertical or horizontal undulation. 



' It passed rapidly, but so close under our lee quarter, that, 

 had it been a man of my acquaintance, I should easily have 

 recognised his features with the naked eye ; and it did not, either 

 in approaching the ship or after it had passed our wake, deviate 

 in the slightest degree from its course to the S.W., which it held 

 on at the pace of some twelve or fifteen miles per hour, apparently 

 on some determined purpose. 



' The diameter of the serpent was about fifteen or sixteen 

 inches behind the head, which was, without any doubt, that of a 

 snake ; and it was never, during the twenty minutes that it con- 

 tinued in sight of our glasses, once below the surface of the water ; 

 its colour, a dark brown, with yellowish white about the throat. 

 It had no fins, but something like the mane of a horse, or rather 

 a bunch of seaweed, washed about its back, 



' It was seen by the quarter-master, the boatswain's mate, and 

 the man at the wheel, in addition to myself and the officers above 

 mentioned. 



' I am now having a drawing of the serpent made from a 

 sketch taken immediately after it was seen, which I hope to have 

 ready for transmission to my Lords Commissioners of the 

 Admiralty by to-morrow's post.'* 



' Peter M'QuHiE, Captain. 



' To Admiral Sir W. H. Gage, G.C.H., Devonport.' 



Amongst the testimony brought forward by this last report 

 was that of Mr J. D, Morries, Stirling, a gentleman who had 

 lived in Norway. 



In a report that he made to a scientific body at Bergen, he 

 says,— 



' Three years ago, while becalmed in a yacht near Bergen and 

 Sogn, in Norway, I saw, at about a quarter of a mile astern, what 

 appeared to be a large fish ruffling the otherwise smooth surface 

 of the fjord, and, on looking attentively, I observed what looked 

 like the convolutions of a snake. I immediately got my glass^ 

 and distinctly made out three convolutions, which drew them- 

 selves slowly through the water. The greatest diameter was 

 about ten or twelve inches. No head was visible ; and, from the 

 size of each convolution, I supposed the length to be about thirty 

 feet. 



'The master of my yacht (who as navigator, seaman, and 



* The sketch alluded to appeared in the Illustrated London Newsot Oct. 28, 1848. 



