22 Fish Stories 



serpents with a mane have their foundation in fact. The 

 great oar-fish has the dorsal spines on its neck elongated, 

 and bright red, like the mane of a fiery horse. We have 

 seen one of these 22 feet long, on the coast of California. 

 When swimming on the surface, it is, most naturally, taken 

 for a sea serpent. A large squid has also been observed 

 swimming on the surface, wounded, its pointed tail just 

 above the water, looking like a head. We may well imagine 

 that a giant squid sixty or seventy feet in length, with wav- 

 ing tentacles, would look like a monstrous sea serpent. 



Many naturalists believe the sea serpent can be explained 

 by either of these animals, or by some unknown whale or 

 shark ; and it so happened that the writer knew a gentleman 

 in his youth, who had the profound respect of a large com- 

 munity in Essex County, Mass. ; in a word, was a reliable 

 man, who had excellent judgment as to marine animals, who 

 believed he had seen a sea serpent. By this is meant he 

 knew a porpoise, or a line of shags, when he saw it, and 

 was familiar with all the animals of the New England coast. 

 He was one of the party who repeatedly saw the famous 

 sea serpent of Lynn in 1840, and to secure his impressions 

 the writer wrote to him some years since and received the 

 following reply, which is of interest, as it can be relied upon 

 as being true ; at least Mr. Chase believed that he saw the 

 animal described, which was carefully observed by many 

 well-known Boston men. 



" Lynn, Mass., June 26, 1881. 

 "Mr. C. F. Holder: 



" Dear Sir : Yours of the 24th inst. came duly to hand and 

 in reply to that part of it relating to the account given by 

 myself of a strange fish, serpent, or some other marine ani- 

 mal called a sea-serpent, I have to say that I saw him on a 

 pleasant, calm summer morning of August, 1819, from Long 

 Beach, Lynn, now Nahant. At this time he was about a 

 quarter of a mile away, but the water was so smooth that I 



