LIEUTENANT DRUMMOND's STATEMENT. 317 



to have ready for transmission to my Lords Commissioners 

 of the Admiralty by to-morrow's post. 



" PETER M'QuH^E, Captain. 



" To Admiral Sir W. H. Gage, G.C.H., Devonport." 



Lieutenant Drummond, the officer of the watch named 

 in the above report, published his own impressions of the 

 animal, in the form of an extract from his own journal, 

 as follows : "In the four to six watch, at about five 

 o'clock, we observed a most remarkable fish on our lee- 

 quarter, crossing the stern in a S.W. direction ; the 

 appearance of its head, which, with the back fin, was the 

 only portion of the animal visible, was long, pointed, and 

 flattened at the top, perhaps ten feet in length, the upper 

 jaw projecting considerably ; the fin was perhaps twenty 

 feet in the rear of the head, and visible occasionally ; the 

 captain also asserted that he saw the tail, or another fin 

 about the same distance behind it ; the upper part of the 

 head and shoulders appeared of a dark brown colour, and 

 beneath the under jaw a brownish white. It pursued a 

 steady undeviating course, keeping its head horizontal 

 with the surface of the water, and in rather a raised posi- 

 tion, disappearing occasionally beneath a wave for a very 

 brief interval, and not apparently for purposes of respira- 

 tion. It was going at the rate of perhaps from twelve to 

 fourteen miles an hour, and when nearest, was perhaps 

 one hundred yards distant. In fact it gave one quite the 

 idea of a large snake or eel. No one in the ship has ever 

 seen anything similar, so it is at least extraordinary. It 



