352 THE VARIOUS ACCOUNTS, [ N°. 148. ] 
In the account of the Times only the following sentences are 
interesting. The ridge of fins moved slowly along. They were re- 
placed by the foremost part of a sea-serpent. In my opinion this 
statement is very correct. Its skin was altogether devoid of scales, 
appearing rather to resemble in sleekness that of a seal. This is a 
remarkable statement, for in the foregoing account the animal is 
said to resemble a huge seal! Again: the head was bullet-shaped 
(seen from behind) with an elongated termination (read snout) being 
somewhat similar in form to that of a seal, and was about six 
feet in diameter. The assertion of one of the officers who saw the 
animal’s features and described them as like those of an alligator , 
cannot surprise us, as this comparison has been made more than 
once. As much of the body as could be seen was developed in 
form like that of a gigantic turtle. Evidently this reporter did not 
observe that the head and trunk were connected by a long neck, 
as did Lieutenant Haynus. I cannot approve of the supposition 
that the animal would have been started by the volcanic disturb- 
ance, which took place a hundred miles more southward and a 
fortnight ago! ! 
The rough account of the Portsmouth Times and Naval Gazette 
partly reprinted in the Grapdic, is as the reader will already have 
observed himself, for the greater part, wrong: the fins of the ridge 
were estimated to be from five to six feet high, and not 15 feet — 
in length. They were never seen along the back’. Lieutenant 
Haynes clearly doubted of it, and I believe that nobody of my 
readers will admit the possibility of such a position! It was the 
ridge of fins that moved slowly, and not the animal. Though it 
is not expressed im words, the figure shows us that the sea-serpent 
moved with the greatest velocity, paddling so violently, that it 
lifted up its flappers as high as possible. 
In the letter which Lieutenant Haynes forwarded to the Editor 
of the Graphic, we read that the animal passed the stern, swim- 
ming in an opposite direction to that they were steering to; con- 
sequently the animal could have been seen for a few seconds only 
from aside, and then only from behind. Most probably in passing 
the yacht, the animal turned its face once towards it, for we read 
in the Zimes of 14th. June: “its features were seen only by one 
officer.’ The breadth of the back is now stated to be about 15 
or 20 feet. “The flappers appeared to have a semi-revolving motion, ’ 
which is indeed a nearly exact expression for this motion. The length 
of 50 feet is now considered by the gallant officer to seem to be 
