74 
SEA MONSTERS UNMASKED. 
Archdeacon of Molde, gives the following account of an 
incident that occurred there on the 28th of July, 1845 : 
" J. C. Lund, bookseller and printer ; G. S. Krogh, merchant ; 
Christian Flang, Lund's apprentice, and John Elgenses, labourer, 
were out on Romsdal-fjord, fishing. The sea was, after a warm, 
sunshiny day, quite calm. About seven o'clock in the afternoon, 
at a little distance from the shore, near the ballast place and 
Molde Hooe, they saw a long marine animal, which slowly moved 
itself forward, as it appeared to them, with the help of two fins, 
on the fore-part of the body nearest the head, which they judged 
by the boiling of the water on both sides of it. The visible part 
of the body appeared to be between forty and fifty feet in length, 
and moved in undulations, like a snake. The body was round 
and of a dark colour, and seemed to be several ells in thickness. 
As they discerned a waving motion in the water behind the animal, 
they concluded that part of the body was concealed under water. 
That it was one continuous animal they saw plainly from its move- 
ment. When the animal was about one hundred yards from the 
boat, they noticed tolerably correctly its fore parts, which ended 
in a sharp snout ; its colossal head raised itself above the water 
in the form of a semi-circle ; the lower part was not visible. The 
colour of the head was dark-brown and the skin smooth ; they 
did not notice the eyes, or any mane or bristles on the throat. 
When the serpent came about a musket-shot near, Lund fired 
at it, and was certain the shots hit it in the head. After the 
shot it dived, but came up immediately. It raised its neck in the 
air, like a snake preparing to dart on his prey. After he had 
turned and got his body in a straight line, which he appeared to 
do with great difficulty, he darted like an arrow against the boat. 
They reached the shore, and the animal, perceiving it had come 
into shallow water, dived immediately and disappeared in the 
deep. Such is the declaration of these four men, and no one has 
cause to question their veracity, or imagine that they were so 
seized with fear that they could not observe what took place so 
near them. There are not many here, or on other parts of the 
Norwegian coast, who longer doubt the existence of the sea- 
serpent. The writer of this narrative was a long time sceptical, 
