404 SEA MONSTERS UNMASKED. 



persuaded themselves, and declared on oath, that they did 

 see it. 



I need scarcely point out how utterly irreconcileable is 

 the proverbially smooth, gliding motion of a serpent, with 

 the supposition of its passage through the water causing 

 such frictional disturbance that "white foam appeared 

 before it, and at the side, which stretched out several 

 fathoms," and of " the water boiling around it on both sides 

 of it." The cuttle is the only animal that I know of that 

 would cause this by the effluent current from its " syphon 

 tube." I have seen a deeply laden ship push in front of 

 her a vast hillock of water, which fell off on each side in 

 foam as it was parted by her bow ; but that was of man's 

 construction. Nature builds on better lines. No swimming 

 creature has such unnecessary friction to overcome. Even 

 the seemingly unwieldy body of a porpoise enters and 

 passes through the water without a splash, and nothing can 

 be more easy and graceful than the feathering action of the 

 flippers of the awkward-looking turtle. 



We now come to an incident which, from the character 

 of those who witnessed it, immediately commanded atten- 

 tion, and excited popular curiosity. In the Times of the 

 9th of October, 1848, appeared a paragraph stating that a 

 sea serpent had been met with by the Dcsdalus frigate, 

 on her homeward voyage from the East Indies. The 

 Admiralty immediately inquired of her commander, Captain 

 M'Quhae, as to the truth of the report ; and his official 

 reply, as follows, addressed to Admiral Sir W. H. Gage, 

 G.C.H., Dcvonport, was printed in the Times of the I3th of 

 October, 1848. 



" H.M.S. Dcedalus, Hamoaze, 

 "October nth, 1848. 



" SIR, In reply to your letter of this date, requiring information as 

 to the truth of the statement published in the Times newspaper, of a 

 sea serpent of extraordinary dimensions having been seen from H.M.S. 



