[N°. 52. | REPORTS AND PAPERS. 195 
o>. — 1818 June. — Quart. Journ. Sc. Litt. Arts R. Inst. 
Gr. Britt. VI, 1818.) 
“The Commercial Advertiser of June 9th. contains a letter from a 
Captain of the brig Wilson, of Salem, bound to Norfolk, wherein 
he states, that durimg his passage, off Cape Henry, he fell in 
with, as he at first supposed, the wreck of a vessel, when he 
ordered his boat to be lowered; but to his great astonishment he 
found it to be the sea-serpent; he says, he then examined it, and 
such an object he never before witnessed; he believed it to be 
190 feet in length, and its mouth and head were of an enormous 
size. After returning to the ship they bore off, fearing the conse- 
quences’ that might result from its coming in contact with the vessel.” 
The only characters mentioned here are the enormous head and 
the length of about 190 feet. Both may be exaggerated though 
greater dimensions are mentioned in later trustworthy reports. 
Seb. — 1818, June 19. — (Quart. Journ. Se. Litt. Arts R. 
Inst. Gr. Brit. V1, 1818). — 
“On the 19th of June he appeared in Sag-Harbour, and rewards 
were offered to the whalers to secure it.” 
a4 — 1818, June 21. — (Sbidem). 
“S. West, of Hallowell, master of the Packet Dela, describes it 
as seen on the 21st. of June, engaged with a whale.” 
The writer does not mean to say that it was a whale-bone-whale 
or a sperm-whale, but a whale of the smaller kind, viz. a dolphin, 
a grampus, or a porpoise. We shall come across an account stating 
that the eye-witnesses saw a panic amongst a shoal of porpoises, 
evidently caused by a sea-serpent pursuing them (n°. 97); and 
across another account, stating that a sea-serpent was seen seizing a 
porpoise in one of its lateral fins (n°. 151). It is evident that 
when the opportunity offers, a sea-serpent also preys on the gramp- 
uses, porpoises and dolphins. 
