Fishes. 1715 



was presently diverted from the whales and ** such small deer " by an exclamation 

 from Dowling, our man-of-war's-man, who was sitting to leeward, of, " Oh ! Sirs, look 

 here!'' we were started into a ready compliance, and saw an object which banished 

 all other thoughts save wonder and surprise. 



At the distance of from 150 to 200 yards on our starboard bow we saw the head 

 and neck of some denizen of the deep, precisely like those of a common snake, in the 

 act of swimming, the head so far elevated and thrown forward by the curve of the neck 

 as to enable us to see the water under and beyond it. The creature rapidly passed, 

 leaving a regular wake, from the commencement of which to the fore part, which was 

 out of water, we judged its length to be about eighty feet ; and this is within rather than 

 beyond the mark. We were of course all taken aback at the sight, and with staring 

 eyes and in speechless wonder stood gazing at it for full half a minute : there could be 

 no mistake, no delusion, and we were all perfectly satisfied that we had been favoured 

 with a view of the " true and veritable sea serpent," which had been generally con- 

 sidered to have existed only iu the brain of some Yankee skipper, and treated as a 

 tale not much entitled to belief. Dowling's exclamation is worthy of record, " Well, 

 I've sailed in all parts of the world, and have seen rum sights too in my time, but this 

 is the queerest thing I ever see," — and surely Jack Dowling was right. It is most dif- 

 ficult to give correctly the dimensions of any object in the water. The head of the 

 creature we set down at about six feet in length, and that portion of the neck which 

 we saw, at the same ; the extreme length, as before stated, at between eighty and one 

 hundred feet. The neck in thickness equalled the bole of a moderate sized tree. The 

 head and neck of a dark brown or nearly black colour, streaked with white in irregular 

 streaks. I do not recollect seeing 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 2\st, 1831. 



A. Maclachlan, Lieutenant, Ditto, August 5th, 1824. 

 G. P. Malcolm, Ensign, Ditto, August 13th, 1830. 



B. O y Neal Lyster, Lieutenant, Artillery, June 7th, 1816. 

 Henry Jnce, Ordnance Store-keeper, at Halifax. 



[The dates are those on which the gentlemen received their respective commissions. 

 I am not aware of their present rank. I am indebted to Mr. W. H. Ince for this in- 

 teresting communication : this gentleman received it from his brother, Commander 

 J. M. R. Ince, R.N. It is written by their uncle, Mr. Henry Ince, the Ordnance 

 Store-keeper at Halifax, Nova Scotia. — Edward Newman]. 



The Sea Serpent. — Not long since the ' Boston Daily Advertiser ' announced a new 

 appearance of this marine monster, about whose existence the world is so naturally in- 

 credulous. A French captain has just related to us a remarkable circumstance, which 

 he has himself witnessed, and his recital exhibits a degree of cautious reserve, which is 

 well calculated to shake the obstinacy of the most sceptical. We shall preface his nar- 

 rative by the remark that the sea serpent has been recently alleged to have been seen 

 at different points along the whole line of the American coast. Captain D'Abnour, 

 commander of the Ville de Rochefort, makes the following statement s — 



" On the 21st of April, 1840, while we were in 24 deg. 13 min. N. latitude, and 

 89 deg. 52 min. W. longitude (calculated from the meridian of Paris), in the gulf of 

 Mexico, we were running under a light breeze from E.N.E. with beautiful weather. 



