CURIOUS CREATURES. 



275 



in the Times newspaper, of a Sea-Serpent of extraor- 

 dinary dimensions having been' seen from 

 Her Majesty's Ship Daedalus, under my 

 command, on her passage from the East 

 Indies, I have the honour to acquaint you, 

 for the information of my Lords Com- 

 missioners of the Admiralty, that at five 

 o'clock P.M., on the 6th of August last, in 

 latitude 24 44' S. and longitude 9 22' E., 

 the weather dark and cloudy, wind fresh 

 from the N.W., with a long ocean swell 

 from the S.W., the ship on the port tack 

 heading N.E. by N., something very 

 unusual was seen by Mr. Sartoris, mid- 

 shipman, rapidly approaching the ship 

 from before the beam. The circumstance 

 was immediately reported by him to the 

 officer of the watch, Lieutenant Edgar 

 Drummond, with whom, and Mr. William 

 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 enor- 

 mous 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 

 the length of what our maintopsail-yard 

 would show in the water, there was, at 

 the very least, sixty feet of the animal a 

 fleur d'eau, no portion of which was, to 

 our perception, used in propelling it through the water, 



