THE GREAT SEA SERPENT. 405 



Dadalus, under my command, on her passage from the East Indies, 

 I have the honour to acquaint you, for the information of my Lords 

 Commissioners of the Admiralty, that at 5 o'clock P.M. on the 6th of 

 Aug. last, in lat. 24 44' S. and long. 9 22' E., the weather dark and 

 cloudy, wind fresh from the N.W. with a long ocean swell from the 

 W., the ship on the port tack, head being N.E. by N., something very 

 unusual was seen by Mr. Sartoris, midshipman, rapidly approaching 

 the ship from before the beam. The circumstance was immediately 

 reported by him to the officer of the watch, Lieut. Edgar Drummond, 

 with whom and Mr. Wm. Barrett, the Master, I was at the time 

 walking the quarter-deck. The ship's company were at supper. On 

 our attention being called to the object it was discovered to be an 

 enormous serpent, with head and shoulders kept about four feet 

 constantly above the surface of the sea, and, as nearly as we could 

 approximate by comparing it with what the length of our main-topsail 

 yard would show in the water, there was, at the very least, sixty feet of 

 the animal hfleur cfeau, no portion 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 from twelve to 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 it continued in sight of our 

 glasses, once below the surface of the water ; its colour dark brown, 

 and 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 quartermaster, the boatswain's mate, 

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

 mentioned. 



" I am having a drawing of the serpent made from a sketch taken 

 immediately after it was seen, which I hope to have ready for trans- 

 mission to my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty by to-morrow's 

 post. PETER M'QUHJE, Captain." 



The sketches referred to in the captain's letter were 

 made under his supervision, and copies- of them, of which he 



