248 THE VARIOUS ACCOUNTS, [N°. 97. | 
we had along with us busied himself in inquiries as to our right 
course; he was told to take his departure from the Bull Rock, 
off Pennant Point, and that a W. N. W. course would bring us 
direct on Iron Bound Island, at the entrance of Mahone or Meck- 
lenburgh Bay. He, however, unfortunately told us to steer W. S. 
W., nor corrected his error for five or six hours; consequently we 
had gone a longe distance off the coast. We had run about half 
the distance, as we supposed, and were enjoying ourselves on deck, 
smoking our cigars, and getting our tackle ready for the approach- 
ing campaign against the salmon, when we were surprised by 
the sight of an immense shoal of grampuses, which appeared in 
an unusual state of exitement, and which in their gambols approach- 
ed so close to our little craft, that some of the party amused . 
themselves by firmg at them with rifles. At this time we were 
jogging on at about five miles an hour, and must have been 
crossing Margaret’s Bay. I merely conjecture where we were, as 
we had not seen land since a short time after leaving Pennant 
Bay. Our attention was presently diverted from the whales and 
“such small deer’, by an exclamation from Dowling, our man-of- 
war’s-man, who was sitting to leeward, of, “Oh sirs, look here!” 
We were started into a ready compliance, and saw an object which 
banished all other thoughts, save wonder and surprise.” 
“At the distance of from a hundred and fifty to two hundred 
yards on our starboard bow, we saw the head and neck of some 
denizen of the deep, precisely like those of a common snake, in 
the act of swimming, the head so far elevated and thrown for- 
ward by the curve of the neck, as to enable us to see the water 
under and beyond it. The creature rapidly passed, leaving a 
regular wake, from the commencement of which, to the fore 
part, which was out of water, we judged its length to be 
about eighty feet, and this within, rather than beyond the 
mark. We were, of course, all taken aback at the sight, and, 
with staring eyes and in speechless wonder, stood gazing at it for 
full half a minute. There could be no mistake, no delusion, and 
we were all perfectly satisfied that we had been favoured with a 
view of the “true and veritable sea-serpent”, which had been gener- 
ally considered to have existed only in the brain of some Yankee 
skipper, and treated as a tale not much entitled to belief. Dowling’s 
exclamation is worthy of record. “Well, I’ve sailed in all parts of 
the world, and have seen rum sights too in my time, but this is 
the queerest thing I ever see!” and surely Jack Dowling was right. 
