140 THE VARIOUS ACCOUNTS , [ N*%. Leg 
that this serpent was first seen in Penobscot Bay about the year 
1779, by Mr. SrepHan Tuckey: he compared it to an unwrought 
spar (meaning probably one of spruce), which the scaly surface and 
dark colour of the animal would very ne resemble; he thought 
it fifty or sixty feet in length.” 
It is evident that Mr. Soren Tuckry only compared it with 
an unwrought spar, and estimated the length of the visible part 
to be fifty or sixty feet. Now Mr. W. D. Peck adds: “which the 
scaly surface and the dark colour of the animal would very much 
resemble”. I, however, take it that the animal swam with its body 
in a straight line, elevating its back but very little above the 
surface of the water, yet showing a length of fifty to sixty feet, 
and so the back of the neck and trunk quite covered with a mane 
resembling sea-weed, and the dark colour of the animal must have 
led Mr. StzpHan Tuckzy to the comparison with an unwrought spar. 
19. — 1780, May. — “Captain Grorer Lrrrie” who saw the 
animal, wrote “a letter’ containing his observation to the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences, “but this letter is lost or mislaid” 
(Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts Sc. Vol. IV, P. 1.). When we consult 
Sinmiman’s Am. Journ. of Sc. and Arts (Vol. I, 1820), we observe 
that Mr. Aupren Braprorp collected for truth’s sake some affidavits 
of eye-witnesses; he had learned that Capt. Grorez LirrLz was an 
eye-witness, he asked him for an affidavit, which he received 
and forwarded to the corresponding Secretary of the Academy; 
after some trouble the letter was found back and published. It 
runs as follows: 
“Marshfield, March, 13th., 1804.” 
“Sir 
“In answer to yours of 30th. of January last, I observe, that 
in May, 1780, I was lying in Round Pond, in Broad Bay, in a 
public armed ship. At sunrise, I discovered a large Serpent, or 
monster, coming down the Bay, on the surface of the water. The 
cutter was manned and armed. I went myself in the boat, and 
proceeded after the serpent. When within a hundred feet, the 
mariners were ordered to fire on him, but before they could make 
ready, the Serpent dove. He was not less than from 45 to 50 feet 
in length; the largest diameter of his body, I should judge, 15 
inches; his head nearly of the size of that of a man, which he 
