[N°. 181. ] REPORTS AND PAPERS. ne 2318 
“At 6.30 p. m., strong breezes and cloudy, ship sailing about 
twelve miles per hour. While myself and officers were standing on 
the lee-side of the poop, looking towards the island, we were 
startled by the sight of a huge marine animal, which reared its 
head out of the water within twenty yards of the ship, when it 
suddenly disappeared for about half a minute, and then made its 
appearance in the same manner again, showing us distinctly its 
neck and head about ten or twelve feet out of the water. Its head 
was shaped like a long nun-buoy, and I suppose the diameter to 
have been seven or eight feet in the largest part, with a kind of 
scroll, or tuft of loose skin, encircling it about two feet from the 
top; the water was discoloured for several hundred feet from its 
head, so much so that, on its first appearance, my impression 
was that the ship was in broken water, produced, as I supposed, 
by some vulcanic agency since the last time I passed the island; 
but the second appearance completely dispelled those fears, and 
assured us that it was a monster of extraordinary length, which 
appeared to be moving slowly towards the land. The ship was 
going too fast to enable us to reach the mast-head in time to 
form a correct estimate of its extreme length, but from what we 
saw from the deck we conclude that it must have been over two 
hundred feet long. The boatswain and several of the crew who 
observed it from the top-gallant forecastle, state that it was more 
than double the length of the ship, in which case it must have 
been five hundred feet. Be that as it may, I am convinced that 
it belonged to the serpent tribe; it was of a dark colour about 
the head,. and was covered with several white spots. Having a 
press of canvas on the ship at the time, I was unable to round 
to without risk, and therefore was precluded from getting another 
sight of this leviathan of the deep.” 
“George Henry Harrington, Commander.” 
“William Davies, Chief Officer.” 
“Hdward Wheeler, Second Officer.” 
The animal seen by Captain Harrinaton was no doubt a sea- 
serpent, of which at first sight, only the head and a small portion 
of the neck were exposed to the eyes of the spectators. Afterwards, 
when the animal moved slowly towards the land, its whole length 
must have been visible, and estimated at about two hundred feet. 
The head was seen in such a direction that it resembled a ,,nun- 
buoy”. The diameter of the head may have been six feet. At a 
moment that the animal contracted its neck, an annular fold was 
