[N°. 105. | REPORTS AND PAPERS. 255 
mentions that Mr. Busrer, Lieutenant of the U. S. Navy affirms 
to have seen the sea-serpent on his way from Daims Island to 
Nahant, near Boston, and estimated its length at 120 to 135 feet. 
10G. — 1839. — In the same periodical on the same page 
we read that Captam Smita who had been a long time in the 
whale fishery, asserts in the Kennebek Journal, that he never be- 
fore saw such a creature, and that if he had had a harpoon and 
lines on board, he would have harpooned it. 
10G, A. — 1840, April 21. — (Journal du Havre, 1840, 
Sept. 15, Zoologist, 1847, p. 1716). — As I have not had the 
opportmity to consult the first paper, I give the account as I have 
found it in the Zoologist. 
“A French captain has just related to us a remarkable circum- 
stance, which he has himself witnessed, and his recital exhibits a 
degree of cautious reserve, which is well calculated to shake the 
obstinacy of the most sceptical. We shall preface his narrative by 
the remark that the sea serpent has been recently alleged to have 
been seen at different points along the whole line of the American 
coast. Captain d’Abnour, commander of the Ville de Rochefort , 
makes the following statements: 
“On the 2lst. of April, 1840, while we were in 24 deg. 13 
min. N. latitude, and 89 deg. 52 min. W. longitude (calculated 
from the meridian of Paris), in the gulf of Mexico, we were run- 
ning under a light breeze from EH. N. EH. with beautiful weather. 
In a few hours we distinguished something like a long chain of 
rocks, falling off by a gentle imclination at the two extremities, 
and elevated at the middle by only a few feet over the level of 
the sea. Against this object the sea broke softly. As we approached 
we remarked that its different parts changed their position, and 
even their form, and we became perfectly certain that it was not 
a reef. A little later, we distinguished by the assistance of a tele- 
scope a long chain of enormous rings, resembling a number of 
barrels linked together, and in form very like the back of a silk 
worm. It was a three quarter view of the object which we had 
first obtained. As the ship approached, these appearances became 
