THE GREA T SEA SERPENT. 
79 
would cause this by the effluent current from its "syphon 
tube." I have seen a deeply laden ship push in front of 
her a vast hillock of water, which fell off on each side in 
foam as it was parted by her bow ; but that was of man s 
construction. Nature builds on better lines. No swimming 
creature has such unnecessary friction to overcome. Even 
the seemingly unwieldy body of a porpoise enters and 
passes through the water without a splash, and nothing can 
be more easy and graceful than the feathering action of the 
flippers of the awkward-looking turtle. 
We now come to an incident which, from the character 
of those who witnessed it, immediately commanded atten- 
tion, and excited popular curiosity. In the Times of 
the 9th of October, 1848, appeared a paragraph stating 
that a sea-serpent had been met with by the DcBdahis 
frigate, on her homeward voyage from the East Indies. 
The Admiralty immediately inquired of her commander. 
Captain M'Quhae, as to the truth of the report ; and 
his official reply, as follows, addressed to Admiral Sir 
W. H. Gage, G.C.H., Devonport, was printed in the Tunes 
of the 13th of October, 1848. 
H.M.S. Dadahis, Hamoaze, 
" October nth, 1848. 
" Sir, — In reply to your letter of this date, requiring information 
as to the truth of the statement published in the Times newspaper, 
of a sea-serpent of extraordinary dimensions having been seen 
from H.M.S. Dcedahis^ under my command, on her passage from 
the East Indies, I have the honour to acquaint you, for the infor- 
mation of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that at 5 
o'clock P.M. on the 6th of Aug. last, in lat. 24° 44' S. and long. 
9° 22' E., the weather dark and cloudy, wind fresh from the N.W. 
with a long ocean swell from the W., the ship on the port tack, 
head being N.E. by N., something very unusual was seen by ]\Ir. 
Sartoris, midshipman, rapidly approaching the ship from before 
