430 SEA MONSTERS UNMASKED. 



tion of suggestions, I wrote to him on the subject, and the 

 following is a portion of his courteous and unprejudiced 

 reply : 



" My impression is that the head did not resemble the cuttle figured on 

 p. 78 of your * Sea Monsters Unmasked ' [see p. 402 of this volume], 

 whether the fins were horizontal or vertical. Of course, it may have 

 been one, for I cannot pretend to say what it was. My first idea, when 

 I first caught sight of it, was that it was a long boat, without any man in 

 it. Then it seemed to be lower in the water as it came nearer, and it 

 looked like a very large log of wood floating on the sea. I soon saw, from 

 the rate it was going, that it could not be that. When it came nearer to 

 us, some dark mass towards the end of it slowly heaved up out of the 

 water and went down again as slowly. It continued on its course quite 

 steadily, and without once disappearing. Its rate of gliding through the 

 water was a very noticeable feature. It reminded me of a rat swimming 

 over a pond, in its apparently noiseless, gliding motion. And I hear from 

 Newquay that some masons at work near the shore say it made them 

 think of a huge rat. It is singular that the same impression struck 

 them and myself. I had mentioned it to friends before I heard their 

 view. A correspondent writing from Newquay (a distance of at least 

 forty miles from Bude) speaks of it as appearing like a huge conger, 

 and going at a great rate. It must have done so, for it was very little 

 more than an hour in going from Bude to Newquay. It is rather 

 strange that it kept so near the coast for so long a distance, for you 

 will observe if you look at the map that it had to pass a decidedly pro- 

 jecting point, Trevose Head, and thus turn south. Would this be more 

 like the movements of a cuttle ? I should certainly say that the two 

 most noticeable things about it were the thinness of the part which 

 appeared above the water (it may have been two feet in diameter), and 

 the great rate at which it was travelling without any apparent commo- 

 tion in the water. I had no glass, unfortunately, with me. I wish I 

 could give you more definite information. But I thank you very much 

 for your desire to throw light on the object we saw, which has certainly 

 caused a considerable amount of excitement here." 



Amongst the comments in the newspapers on Mr. 

 Highton's report was a letter in the Times of the 2Oth of 

 October, from Admiral Gore-Jones, who wrote : 



" In reference to a letter which appeared yesterday in the Times 

 headed < The Sea Serpent once more,' perhaps the following story will 



