26 ATTEMPTS TO DiSCREDIT THE SEA-SERPENT. 
catching him, with a select crew, under the command of Captain 
Rich. Day after day he cruised over tracts where the sea-serpent 
had, according to information, been observed , without discovering 
anything like him. At length, a creature was descried, which some — 
of the men on board said they had seen before, and that it was 
the sea-serpent. The captain pursued the game a considerable time 
longer, with much vigilance and patience, until it was at a distance 
near enough to be harpooned. He was taken on board, and found 
to be a fish of the Mackerel family. I saw the preparation of it in 
the Greenwood Museum, and satisfied myself that it was an indi- 
vidual of a well known species called Zunny in the Mediterranean, 
and A/dicore in the Atlantic sea.” 
“After the capture of the fish, the persons whe, when they saw 
him in the water, declared positively that he was the sea-serpent, 
now changed their minds, and swore he was not.” 
“At length the man of successful exertion arrived with his prize; 
and unexpectedly and unfortunately drew upon him the displeasure 
of his employers for attempting to impose upon them a Horse- 
Mackerel (as they call it) for a Sea-Serpent/ He told me the 
story himself.” 
“(e). In this fervor of opinion, it was supposed for a time that 
a sea-serpent existed in Lake Ontario. A coasting navigator, some- 
where between Kingston and York, had several times during his 
trips observed among the islands and rocks something that appeared 
to be a long animal with vertical flexures of the back, resembling 
lumps or humps of variegated black and white hues. He told some 
of his acquaintances what peculiar appearances had presented them- 
selves to his view; and that he intended the next opportunity 
to take a more close and correct survey. He did so, shortly after, 
when the whole phenomenon ascended into the air! It turned out 
to be a speckled mother duck, with a numerous brood of young 
ones. They swam in a line, with the parent bird at the head. And 
as they rose and descended on the undulations, gave an appearance 
so like that ascribed to the sea-serpent, that the captain, though 
a wary man, would have solemnly declared, until he was undeceiv- 
ed, his belief in the existence of a sea-serpent there!” 
“(f). Lake Erie brought forward pretensions too for a sea-serpent. 
One of the coasting vessels, navigated by three men, as she was 
steering eastward from Detroit, discovered something afloat on the 
hither side of the islands called “The Sisters’, which, when she 
arrived at the place of her destination on the southern shore, was 
