THE GREAT UNKNOWN. 



white in irregular streaks. I do not recollect see- 

 ing any part of the body. 



"Such is the rough account of the sea-serpent, 

 and all the party who saw it are still in the land 

 of the living, — Lyster in England, Malcolm in New 

 South Wales, with his regiment, and the remainder 

 still vegetating in Halifax. 



"W. Sullivan, Captain, Rifle Brigade, June 21, 

 1831. 



A. Maclachlan, Lieutenant, ditto, August 5, 

 1824. 



G. P. Malcolm, Ensign, ditto, August 13, 1830. 



B. O'Neal Lyster, Lieut., Artillery, June 7, 1816. 

 Henry Ince, Ordnance Store-keeper at Halifax."* 



I now come to an incident, which, from the 

 character of the witnesses, the captain, officers, 

 and crew of one of Her Majesty's ships, and from 

 the medium through which it was announced, an 

 official report to the Lords of the Admiralty, — 

 commanded great notoriety and interest, and gave 

 an unwonted impetus to the investigation of the 

 question. 



Hie Times newspaper of October 9, 1848, pub- 

 lished the following paragraph:— "When the Dse- 

 dalua frigate, Captain M'Quhae, which arrived at 

 Plymouth on the 4th instant, was on her passage 

 home from the East Indies, between the Cape of 

 Good Hope and St. Helena, her captain, and most 

 of her officers and crew, at four o'clock one af- 

 ternoon, saw a sea-serpent. The creature was 



* This account was published in the Zoologist for 1847 (page 

 1715), and the editor states that he is indebted for it to Mr. W. 

 H. Ince, who received it from his brother, Commander J. M. 

 It. Ince, R.N. It was written by their uncle, one of the eye- 

 witnesses, Mr. Henry Ince, the Ordnance Store-keeper at Hali- 

 fax, in Nova Scotia. The dates affixed to the names are those 

 on which the gentlemen received their respective commissions- 

 The editor is not aware of their present rank. 



295 



