HARDWICKKS SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



above. The sea-serpent of his day was seen to rise 

 from the sea in undulations, the visible portions 

 looking like islands covered with seaweed, while it 

 waved in the air mast -like arms, capable of dragging 

 ships beneath the waves ; its sudden sinking caused 

 a whirlpool credited with the power of engulfing 

 the stoutest vessels. It is unjust to the memory of 

 the good and pious Pontoppidan toi think that such 

 a keen observer of nature is exaggerating, but in all 

 probability the Kraken was one of the gigantic 

 cephalopods which occasionally make their appear- 

 ance off the Norwegian shore. The Atlantic Ocean 

 is, however, par excellence the home of the sea- 

 serpent. This is not as might be expected, for it is 

 a well-known fact that certain parts of the Indian 

 Ocean, especially those adjacent to India and the 

 East Indian Archipelago, swarm with veritable sea- 

 serpents, members of the genus Hydrophis or 

 Hydrus. These creatures, which resemble eels, 

 being keeled on their under sides, are but from two 

 to five feet in length ; and it is no doubt owing to 

 their smallness of size, and the fact that they occur 

 near land and in considerable numbers, that they 

 have never been magnified into real " great sea- 

 serpents." 



In mentioning a few of the best authenticated 

 instances of the sea-serpent placing itself in evidence, 

 it must be remembered that the monster appeared 

 most frequently when the ocean was much less 

 traversed than it is at present, when wind-power 

 reigned supreme, and the size of merchant-vessels 

 was far below their present dimensions. Many a 

 ship-master then had the tedium of a long sea voyage 

 agreeably enlivened by a cursory view of the great 

 leviathan whose existence his sympathies and training 

 forbade him to doubt. 



In 1818 we have the solemnly-attested evidence of 

 the master and one of the crew of the American 

 schooner Adamant that they saw a gigantic sea- 

 serpent not far from the Atlantic littoral of the 

 States. At first it was guessed to be a half-submerged 

 wreck, but this illusion was dispelled by the creature 

 uncoiling itself and rearing its head above the waves. 

 The description of this monster is graphic and 

 very detailed. Its colour was black, and its length 

 130 feet, while its neck was upwards of six feet in 

 diameter. Bullets rebounded from its scaly encase- 

 ment ; and for upwards of five hours it was on view 

 to the schooner's crew. 



The Atlantic sea-board of the United States would 

 seem to be the favourite haunt of the sea-serpent, for 

 in June, 1815, and in August, 1S17, he is said to 

 have been frequently seen disporting himself off 

 Gloucester, some thirty miles from Boston. This 

 specimen appears to have been of the Pontoppidan 

 type, for he looked like a number of buoys placed in 

 a line. His length was variously estimated from 

 90 feet to 250 yards, a rather marked difference 

 between the two limits. Once again, in 1S19, he 



was seen off Nahant, also in close proximity to 

 Boston, this time making curves perpendicular to the 

 plane of the water. He paid yet another visit to 

 this locality, being seen in almost the same [spot in 

 the summer of 1833. The latitude of Boston is 

 42J N., yet this does not mark the northern limit of 

 the sea-serpent's peregrinations. In June, 1834, he 

 was encountered by the ship Robertson, of Greenock, 

 in 47 N., 59 W. On this occasion he moved 

 through the waters at a speed of nine miles an hour, 

 keeping up with the vessel and exposing his head 

 and shoulders, which were covered with a thick 

 fluted skin of a green colour. In 1835 the great 

 serpent was encountered twice, each time by vessels 

 voyaging between Boston and New Orleans. He is 

 next seen by Captain Blyl, of the barque Hendrix, 

 this time south of the line, in 27 S., 15 E. They 

 sailed in company for nine days, when it dropped 

 astern and finally disappeared below the horizon. 

 There is something very peculiar in the behaviour of 

 this specimen, for he allowed upwards of one hundred 

 bullets to penetrate his skin and tinge the sea with 

 blood, without it occurring to him that he could 

 escape from his foes either by submerging himself in 

 the water, or putting a greater distance between 

 himself and his tormentors. For nine days he 

 withstood their annoyance, and then was left behind 

 by the vessel increasing its pace. 



Perhaps the most important case on record of the 

 appearance of a sea-serpent is that reported by the 

 officers and crew of H.M. Frigate Daedalus in 184S. 

 The vessel was 24° 44' S. and 9 20' E., in the South 

 Atlantic Ocean not far from the coast of Africa, when, 

 according to the account forwarded by the captain 

 to the Admiralty, a huge monster was encountered 

 swimming rapidly ; " an enormous serpent with head 

 and shoulders kept about four feet constantly above 

 the surface of ithe sea. The diameter of the serpent 

 was about fifteen or sixteen inches behind the head, 

 which was without any doubt that of a snake, and it 

 was never during the twenty minutes that it con- 

 tinued under the view of our glasses once below the 

 surface of the water. Its colour was a dark brown 

 with yellowish white about the throat. It had no fins 

 but something like the mane of a horse, or rather a 

 bunch of sea-weed washed about its back." It is a 

 matter of great pity that the exact position of this 

 particular specimen in the scale of nature was not 

 ascertained. It approached as near as 100 yards to 

 the vessel, and the gunnery staff of the Dcedalus 

 must have made very indifferent practice could they 

 not have struck so large a target as the monster pre- 

 sented to them. Drawings of this sea-serpent appeared 

 in the " Illustrated London News," and a controversy 

 was provoked relative to the existence or non-existence 

 of great sea-serpents, which caused much ill-feeling 

 and which took long to subside. One theory sug- 

 gested that to account for the animal seen by the 

 Dcedalus it was only necessary to suppose it was some 



