SEA-SERPENTS. 



797 



whose color was dark brown, variegated with 

 light spots or streaks. 



The bishop also cites a letter, dated 1751, 

 from Capt. De Ferry, of the Swedish Navy, 

 relating to a snake seen by him near Molde 

 on a cahn, hot day in August, 1746. He (Capt. 

 De Ferry) fired at it, whereupon it immediate- 

 ly sank. The head, he relates, was like that of 

 a horse ; the mouth was quite black, and very 

 large ; the eyes were black, and there were 

 seven or eight folds or curves about six feet 

 apart. 



The sea-serpent was by no means a stranger 

 to the mariners on the New England coast. 

 Capt. Eleazer Crabtree, with several of his 

 neighbors, saw a large serpent in the Bay of 

 Penobscot, in 1778. The animal is described 

 as about 100 feet long and about 3 feet in di- 

 ameter, and held his head four or Hve feet above 

 the surface of the water. In May, 1780, Capt. 

 George Little, commanding a public armed 

 ship of the colonies, while lying in Round 

 Pond in Broad Bay, discovered a large ser- 

 pent coming down the bay. He immediately 

 ordered the cutter to be manned and armed, 

 and in it he pursued the monster as far as 

 Muscongus Island. This serpent was described 

 as resembling a very large specimen of a com- 

 mon blacksnake, from 45 to 50 feet in length, 

 and about 15 inches in greatest diameter, and 

 having a head the size of a man's, carried four or 

 five feet above the water. In 1802, a sea-ser- 

 pent was again seen in the bay of Penobscot, 

 and in July of the same year a marine monster 

 was seen by the crew and passengers of an 

 English packet-ship o1f the coast of Long Isl- 

 and, who thus described it : " His head was 

 rather larger than that of a horse, but formed 

 like that of a serpent. His body was more than 

 60 feet in length. His head, and as much of 

 his body as we could discover, was all of a 

 blue color, except a black circle around his 

 eyes." 



In 1808 the dead body of an enormous sea- 

 monster was cast up by the waves upon the 

 rocky coast of Stronsa, one of the Orkney Isles, 

 It measured 55 feet in length and about 10 feet 



MONSTER OP STRONSA. 



in circumference, and was furnished with a 

 kind of mane, or ridge of bristles, which ex- 

 tended from the shoulder to within 2 feet of 

 the tail. These bristles while moist, were lu- 

 minous in the dark. The animal was provided 

 with fins or swimming-paws, which measured 

 4 feet 6 inches in length. A drawing was 

 made of it, of which the illustration here given 

 is a fac-simile. 



In June, 1815, a sea-serpent was seen cff 

 Plymouth, Mass., and chased by several old 

 whale-men. In August, 1817, it appeared in 

 the harbor of Gloucester, and' in the same 



month was seen within 30 or 50 yards of the 

 " Laura," by Capt. Tappan and the crew of that 

 vessel. They described it with considerable 

 minuteness, as follow : " He was formed like 

 a serpent. His tongue was thrust out, and ap- 

 peared about 2 feet in length ; this he raised 

 several times over his head, and then let it fall 

 again ; it was of light-brown color, and the 

 end of it resembled a harpoon." 



In 1819, a veritable sea-monster made several 

 appearances along the New England coast. 

 On the morning of June 6 he was encount- 

 ered by the sloop " Concord," on a voyage 

 from New York to Salem, 15 miles north- 

 west of Race Point. He was described as 

 being perfectly black, with a head like a 

 snake's, about as long as a horse's head, and 

 elevated from four to seven feet above the 

 water, while on his back were bunches about 

 as large as a half-barrel. In August of the 

 same year, he was seen by several hundred 

 persons at Nahant, and they reported him to 

 be about 60 feet in length. On the 26th of the 

 same month, the U. S. Schooner " Science " was 

 surveying Gloucester harbor, when a sea-ser- 

 pent rose within 40 yards of one of her boats. 

 He was described as being dark-brown, with 

 white under the throat. His head was about 

 3 feet in circumference, and smaller than his 

 body, and he was from 100 to 130 feet long. 

 Upon his back were 13 or 14 protuberances, 

 the first one 10 or 12 feet back of the head, 

 decreasing as they approached the tail. After 

 observing him for a little while, several of the 

 officers in the boat landed at a point where 

 they could continue to observe the monster, 

 while the boat was dispatched to bring up the 

 schooner; but before that vessel arrived, the 

 serpent disappeared. 



On June 16, 1826, while the ship " Silas Rich- 

 ards " was off St. George's Banks, a sea-serpent 

 appeared close by her bow. He was seen by 

 several of the crew and passengers, and among 

 the latter by Mr. Warburton, u an eminent 

 merchant and member of the firm of Barclay 

 Brothers & Co., of London." In the " Ameri- 

 can Journal of Science " this gentleman de- 

 scribed him as about 60 feet long, with humps 

 upon his back like those of a dromedary. 



In July, 1830, a party of fishermen off the 

 New England coast were frightened by a ser- 

 pent that rose within a short distance and im- 

 mediately came within six feet of the vessel, 

 raised his head, and looked over the deck. 

 The party on board fled to the cabin, and, when 

 they emerged again, the serpent had disap- 

 peared. 



In 1833 the sea-serpent appeared twice. On 

 May 15 a party of five English officers stationed 

 at Halifax were sailing in a yacht, when a 

 creature like a huge snake, about eighty feet 

 in length and with head elevated, passed with- 

 in 150 or 200 yards of their vessel. In July 

 of the same year a sea-serpent visited Boston 

 Bay, and several parties were organized to 

 capture him, but he eluded his hunters. 



