2362 Reptiles. 



always to be considerably under water. The greatest length given to him was one 

 hundred feet, and no one who had a good sight of him thought him less than eighty feet 

 in length. If the number of protuberances is twenty-three (and it seems there are at 

 least that number), and calculating them to be distant from centre to centre four feet 

 (and I think, considering their thickness, they cannot be less than this), he would be 

 ninety-two feet long. They all agreed, too, as to the colour being quite dark, ap- 

 proaching to black. From all these circumstances, thus testified by honourable men, 

 one would have supposed that the existence of a sea-serpent in our waters would have 

 met the belief of every one. So far, however, was this from being the case, that the 

 whole was ridiculed in the Southern States from New York southward as a Yankee 

 trick. 



" As it happened, a circumstance took place which did not do much credit to the 

 actors in it, but which served to fortify the unbelief of our southern brethren. Be- 

 lieving that the possession of the sea-serpent would be a fortune to those who should 

 have him in their power, many boats were fitted out from Cape Ann and other places 

 in the neighbourhood of his haunts, armed with harpoons and other implements, and 

 manned with persons used to the whale fishery, in hopes of getting near enough to him 

 to fasten their harpoons in his side. Among others a Captain Rich (not Benjamin 

 Rich), of Boston, took command of a party, which was fitted out at some expense, and 

 went into the bay, where they cruised along shore two or three days without seeing 

 the serpent. With a view, however, to keep the joke from themselves, they determined 

 to throw or attempt to throw it upon others, though at the expense of truth ! They 

 spread a report that they had caught the serpent, or what had been taken for one, and 

 that he was to be seen at a place mentioned in the advertisement. 



" Thousands were flocking to see this wonder, when it was found to be no other 

 than a large horse mackerel, which (though a great natural curiosity, weighing some- 

 times 600 or 700 pounds) very much disappointed those who had been induced to visit 

 it. Those who had declared their disbelief of the existence of the sea-serpent amongst 

 ourselves were delighted to find their opinions were confirmed, and gave themselves 

 great credit for their judgment and discrimination. The report spread from Boston to 

 New Orleans, that what had been thought by some persons to be a sea-serpent had 

 proved to be a horse mackerel ; and even those who had been believers now supposed 

 that those who had reported that they had seen the serpent had either misrepresented 

 or had been themselves deceived. As no report of the snake having been seen after 

 the capture of the mackerel was made, during that year, Captain Rich had the laugh 

 with him, until circumstances, which have transpired since, have borne rather against 

 him. Thus much for the transactions of the past years." 



In addition to this interesting narrative, our venerable correspondent gives letters 

 from several members of his family, who the next summer had opportunity to see the 

 sea-serpent, in which the appearance of the animal is minutely described. He was 

 several times seen in the month of August, 1820, from the piazza of the house of Col. 

 Perkins, at Nahant. This correspondence is very interesting ; the description of the 

 animal agrees entirely with that given above, and we regret that want of space must 

 prevent the insertion of it. We close this article by a memorandum addressed to 

 Col. Perkins by Capt. Bolton, of the U. S. Navy, referring to the same subject. 



" In the year 1817 I was the first lieutenant of the Independence, of 74 guns, then 

 lying in the harbour of Boston. 



