72 
SEA MOIVSTERS UNMASKED. 
saw at the same." There could be no mistake — no delu- 
sion," they say ; " and we were all perfectly satisfied that we 
had been favoured with a view of the true and veritable 
sea-serpent." This account was published in the Zoologist, 
in 1847 (p. 171 5), and at that date all the officers above 
named were still living. 
The next incident of the kind in point of date that we 
find recorded carries us back to the locality of which 
Pontoppidan wrote, and in which was seen the animal 
vouched for by Captain de Ferry. In 1847 there appeared 
in a London daily paper a long account translated from 
the Norse journals of fresh appearances of the sea-serpent. 
The statement rnade was, that it had recently been 
frequently seen in the neighbourhood of Christiansand 
and Molde. In the large bight of the sea at Christiansand 
it had been seen every year, only in the warmest weather, 
and when the sea was perfectly calm, and the surface of 
the water unruffled. The evidence of three respectable 
persons was taken, namely, Nils Roe, a workman at Mr. 
William Knudtzon's, who saw it twice there, John Johnson, 
merchant, and Lars Johnoen, fisherman at Smolen. The 
latter said he had frequently seen it, and that one afternoon 
in the dog-days, as he was sitting in his boat, he saw it 
tv/ice in the course of two hours, and quite close to him. 
It came, indeed, to within six feet of him, and, becoming 
alarmed, he commended his soul to God, and lay down in 
the boat, only holding his head high enough to enable him 
to observe the monster. It passed him, disappeared, and 
returned ; but, a breeze springing up, it sank, and he saw 
it no more. He described it as being about six fathoms 
long, the body (which was as round as a serpent's) two feet 
across, the head as long as a ten-gallon cask, the eyes 
large, round, red, sparkling, and about five inches in 
