The * Pauline ' Sea^ Serpent 175 



Dr. Andrew Wilson upon reading this story immedi- 

 ately remembered the yarn of the captain of the 

 * Pauline,' and very naturally, and I think inevitably, 

 knowing the man, came to the conclusion that it was 

 based upon a similar sight. The Doctor wrote to me 

 askirg me for further details, which I gladly supplied, 

 and embodied his reflections in his Science Jottings' 

 column in the next issue of The Illustrated London 

 News. 



Up to a certain point everything that Captain 

 Drevar states, and swears to, is easily explainable, on 

 the hypothesis that he saw a sperm whale devouring 

 a huge calamary. But then the embellishments 

 arrive, several of them not to be ascribed to exaggera- 

 tion through nervous excitement, but obviously put 

 in to round off and complete a good story. For 

 instance, what were the signs of greatest terror ex- 

 hibited by the two attendant whales ? Certainly 

 no whaleman could tell. How could the serpent, even 

 assuming it to lie, as the captain does, one hundred 

 or one hundred and seventy feet long, raise its body 

 perpendicularly out of the water to a height of sixty 

 feet ? It was such a pity to spoil a good story by 

 trying to improve it in such a foolish way, that even 

 Dr. Oudemans feels compelled to take 33 §• per cent, 

 off the sixty feet. 



But before leaving Captain Drevar another example 

 of his powers must be given : ' The body (of the whale) 

 disappeared from our view, going down head foremost 

 to the bottom, where no doubt it was gorged at the 

 serpent's leisure ; and that monster of monsters may 

 have been many months in a state of coma, digesting 

 the huge mouthful.' Oh, Captain Drevar ! A huge 

 mouthful indeed for a serpent eight or nine feet in 

 girth to gorge a whale thirty or forty ; for a snake 



