406 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Dec. &i, 1883. 



ANIMAL SEEN BY CAPT. HENRY CHAPPELL, OFF MONTAUK POINT. 



"THE SEA SERPENT." 



BT DR. W. 0. AYRES. 



^ The absurd title placed at the head of this article is used 

 simply in deference to popular prejudice and belief, and 

 that all may know who it is that we have selected as the 

 hero of our story; and not at all because the name gives any 

 true idea of his' nature. On the contrary, we hope to show 

 that although serpentiform. lie is not snake-like, and while 

 we do not propose to deny the probability of his being rep- 

 tilian in physical relationship, we allege that the title above- 

 quoted is entirely a misnomer. 



For many years past reports have been circulated, from 

 time to time, of the appearance along our northern Atlantic 

 coast, of large marine animals, differing completely from 

 whales or any other of the well recognized inhabitants of 

 the ocean. 'They have been seen by great numbers, man}' 

 hundreds of people, some of them, of course, not specially 

 worthy of credence, but many being, on the other hand, 

 utterly beyond the possibility of suspicion as to their good 

 faith, their opportunities of observation, or their clearness 

 of judgment. We should believe them implicitly in regard 

 to anything else ; should never think of questioning whatever 

 they asserted to be true. 



But whenever these same persons come in with a report 

 that they have seen "the Sea Serpent" a smile of incredulity 

 greets them at once. Anv quantity of what is popularly 

 called "chaff" is thrown at them; very affectionate inquiries 

 are suggested as to the state of the whisky jug at the time: 

 how near they had got to the bottom of it — "Say, how many 

 miles long was it you thought he was'/"— and ail that sort of 

 thing; until in the minds of probably the great majority of 

 people.the existence of any such animal as we have above 

 indicated, is accounted incredible. If they are uneducated 

 persons, it is set down as a good joke, something to laugh 

 about and to ridicule; if they are higher in the grade of in- 

 tellectual development, they reckon it one of what Sir 

 Thomas Browne calls "vulgar popular errors. " 



The occasion for this incredulity is not difficult to trace; 

 it is not new, it is on the contrary very old. There are 

 doubtless two reasons for the incredulity. One is that 

 whatever, especially of a physical nature, involves mystery, 

 naturally excites suspicion, and we demand proof, and the 

 other is that when in connection with that mystery false 

 ami exaggerated statements and ideas have been current for 

 hundreds of years, our suspicions are very reasonably in- 

 tensified, and the proof must have confirmation strong as 

 "Holy Writ" before we yield it our assent. 



Now in relation to the "sea seipent" there is mystery, 

 much mystery. Its tales are all of the open sea; ail bear 

 reference to some huge beast seeu at a greater or less dis- 

 tance, and seen commonly for but a very limited time- 

 perhaps only a few minutes. No one has' ever laid hand 

 upon him, dead, when accurate measurements, descriptions 

 and drawings could be made. No one has ever photographed 

 him, nor made a drawing while its object was still in sight, 

 and errors of the drawing could be removed by verification 

 and correction. No specimen of the animal has ever been 

 found cast up on any seashore, nor does there exist in any 

 Scientific collection or museum so much as a single bone, 

 which could possibly have come from an unknown animal 

 such as we have indicated. 



Here then is the element of mystery involved to a suffi- 

 cient extent to justify no small amount of skepticism. Now 

 let us add to it the fact that in the dim twilight of the past 

 it is found associated with religious beliefs, and we shall 

 see that the mist grows thicker, and that lines of exaggera- 

 tion have spread, which, while blended with truth, hold also 

 so much of absurdity as to make it extremely difficult to 

 separate the one from the other. We all know the 

 "Sea snake, tremendons curled, 

 Whose girth encircles thrice the world," 



And in the Snorra Edda we are told abundantly of the 



Midgard Serpent, the offspring of Loki, whose circle girds 

 the world, and will till the twilight of the Gods, when it 

 and Thor will engage in fearful strife, which will end only 

 when each shall kill the other. 



Later still we find in the accounts a little more of truth 

 and less of fiction, but even no longer ago than 1751, when 

 the Right Rev. Erich Pontoppidan, Bishop of Bergen, pub- 

 lished his Natural History of Norway, he being a member 

 of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Copenhagen, his 

 statements tear such evidence of incorrectness, that they 

 have afforded constant themes for jest, and it has been not 

 uncommon to liken any particular' Munchausenish descrip- 

 tion of some strange object to old Bishop Pontoppidan's 

 tale of the sea serpent. And yet the Bishop told doubtless 

 much that was true, and has left a record of facts of no 

 small value. It is but right also to add that under cover of 

 this cloud of mist and mystery many sea serpent stories have 

 been published which were pure mailers of ficliou, having 

 nothing to originate them but the brain of some idle scribbler 

 who thought to make a pleasant notoriety by what he 

 deemed a harmless joke. 



.dd to this one thing more, and we will have done. In 

 imber of instances large objects have been seen far out 

 ea, have excited astonishment and alarm in the minds of 

 tain and crew trom the belief that now really they had 

 l the famous sea serpent, have afforded afterward oppor- 

 tunity for examination, and have proved to be perhaps a 

 tree-trunk, or a gigantic seaweed, and then on the captain's 

 report being published, have been often quoted subseqently 

 as fair occasions lor a laugh al those who are so foolish as 

 to believe in the existence of "the sea serpent." 



Now, though few men of science at the present day, per- 

 haps none, are inclined to question the fact that huge 

 marine animals, not represented in any of our collections, 

 but which are possibly allied to some of the enaliosaurs of 

 the geologically long -distant ages, not only may exist at the 

 preseat time, but almost to a certainty do so exist, yet the 

 popular belief has not reached that point. Within the last 

 fifteen months, 'certainly not less than four separate reports 

 have been published in the daily papers of the fact that in 

 each case good and credible persons, credible at least on any 

 other point, had seen some strange sea animal of great size, 

 near our coast— two at least of I liese being in Long Island 

 Sound— and in each instance the editor has seen fit in 

 his wisdom to have aslv shot at the observers i iii[ 'lying, doubt 

 of their testimony. 



While for those not accustomed to the sight of marine 

 Objects, a mistake on such matters might be very easy: and 

 a common and easily understood object might readily seem a 

 monster, and be a source of grea I terror, yel with those whose 

 home and whose life have always been 'on the sea we cau 

 connect no such liability of error. And most especially in 

 the case of an old whaleman, does the reason for suspecting 

 that he should make such a mistake in regard to anything 

 which he sees moving in the open sea-, diminish " till it 

 becomes too small to be worth noticing. He has seen and 

 watched too closely and too long every sort of whale, black- 

 fish, killer, porpoise, sea elephant, sea lion, and seal to take 

 anything else tor anyone of them, or any of them for any- 

 thing else. With very much more probability might "a 

 farmer lie suspected of mistaking a sheep for a colt, or an 

 apple tree for an oak. 



And in the whalemen's case the element of fear is not to 

 be considered as affecting the calculation, for, accustomed 

 as they are from the necessities of their occupation to facing 

 (he dangers induced by violent attacks on the largest ami 

 most powerful of all animals known to exist, they are com- 

 monly very reckless of what they "fasten" to, so long as it 

 is "black" skin." And I have often thought thai if his 

 satanic majesty could make his appearance to an old skipper 

 of New Bedford, Sag Harbor, or New London, in good 

 swimming shape, the first thought would be to "get an iron 

 into him" with particularly little care as to how quick and 

 how hard he might "strike back." Striking back is part 

 of the regular game, and "starn all; mind his flukes," is the 

 word to watch out for it. 



When, therefore, such a man reports that he has seen a 

 sea serpent, I know — supposing him to be one w T orthy of 

 belief on other points — that he has seen, not a string of 

 porpoises, nor any sort of shark or group of sharks, nor a 

 mass of kelp, nor a sea elephant or other large species of 

 seal, nor any known species of whale. He has seen some- 

 thing manifestly different from them all, and from any 

 other object which ordinarily floats on the sea. 



And it is because I have three instances to put on record, 

 in each of which the evidence comes from men who had had 

 long experience in whaling, and who report only that which 

 each one himself saw, that I have undertaken to group to- 

 gether briefly and in popular form a few of the facts which 

 go to make up the past and the present of sea serpent lore. 



The first record relates to an event of the summer of 1881, 

 and takes us but a little way from home. The time was the 

 twentieth of July; the place was near Montauk Point, the 

 eastern extremity of Long Island; the observer was Capt. 

 Henry Chapped, of* New London, Conn. 1 have made in- 

 vestigation sufficient to satisfy myself that Capt. Chapped 

 is a man whose word is as fully and readily to be trusted as 

 that of any other intelligent and worthy member of the 

 community. Were he speaking of any other subject than 

 "the sea serpent" no one would doubt that lie told a simple 

 verity. Well, we will dismiss all ideas of sea serpent— call 

 it something else. This is what he say,-. 



On the date above mentioned he was sailing, about six to 

 seven miles N. E. by E. from Hontauk, between the Point 

 and Block Island. They were in twelve-fathom water, with 

 a very light, breeze, the boat making small headway. Sud- 

 denly just off the port quarter, and a little abaft it they saw 

 the object which we are about to describe, and which the 

 accompanying illustrations are designed to represent. Its 

 distance from the stern of the boat was only about thirty 

 yards. Its direction WAS such that they must necessarily 

 have passed the spot where it lay, and as they certainly 

 would have seen it in passing, the only inference" is that the 

 animal had just emerged from the water when it met then- 

 vision, and that it must have come up very gently, since 

 otherwise the rush of so large a body through the water 

 could not have failed to he heard at such a short distance. 

 It was lying entirely still, and continued so to lie for many 

 minutes", giving full time for careful observation : of course 

 the time was nut taken, hut Capt. Chapped thinks it may 

 have been twenty minutes before they lost sight of it. 



They saw a slender-necked animal, with an elongated 

 body, the entire length being as they all judged fully equal 

 to that of the boat in which they were. I have measured 

 the boat, she is forty feet loug. The neck was raised and 

 the head bent forward, the elevation of the head in this 

 position being about five feet from the surface of the water, 

 The entire length of the animal was visible, the back and 

 sides being out of water, while the tail portion was slightly 

 submerged, but not so much so as to prevent its being plainly 

 seen. 



The head was about three feet long, "looked something 

 like an eel's head in shape, all but its mouth." The mouth 

 was very large, open far back, and several limes during 

 the period of observation the animal raised its head and 

 "gaped," opening its enormous mouth, as represented. At 

 each time that it "gaped" it made a gurgling sound,'as 

 though in its throat, that being the only sound emitted by 

 the animal at all. Capt. Chapjel! is perfectly certain that it 

 did uot "blow," thus separating it at once from the whale 

 tribe. The testimony of an old whaleman on this point is 

 specially valuable, for it is the one thing to which his atten- 

 tion would most naturally go, and it is one on which in other 

 cases there has been a slight discrepancy. Even during the 

 wide opening of the mouth no teeth were seen. 



The distance from the head to the swell of the bod> was 

 estimated at about five feet; the diameter of the neck near 

 the head at eight inches, of the neck at its lower part twelve 

 inches, of the body at its thickest three feet or a little less, 

 of the tail near to "its extremity twelve inches, from which 

 it tapered very abruptly to a blunt point. These dimensions 

 the Captain gave me' by comparison with various objects 



