154 
APPENDIX. 
Copy of a Letter from James Prince, Esq., Mar¬ 
shal •of this District, to the Hon. Jhdge 
Dayis, dated 
Nahant, August 16. 
My dear Sir : — I presume I may have seen what 
is generally thought to be the Sea-Serpent. I have 
also seen my name inserted in the evening newspaper 
printed at Boston on Saturday, in a communication 
on this subject. For your gratification, and from a 
desire that my name may not sanction anything be¬ 
yond what was actually presented and passed in re¬ 
view before me, I will now state that which, in the 
presence of more than two hundred other witnesses, 
took place near the long beach of Nahant on Satur¬ 
day morning last: — 
Intending to pass two or three days with my fami¬ 
ly at Nahant, we left Boston early on Saturday morn¬ 
ing. On passing the half-way house on the Salem turn¬ 
pike, Mr. Smith informed us the Sea-Serpent had 
been seen the evening before at Nahant beach, and 
that a vast number of people from Lynn had gone to 
the beach that morning in hopes of being gratified 
with a sight of him; — this was confirmed at the 
hotel. I was glad to find I had brought my famous 
mast-head spy-glass with me, as it would enable me, 
from its form and size, to view him to advantage, if 
I might be so fortunate as to see him. On our arri¬ 
val on the beach, we associated with a considerable 
collection of persons on foot and in chaises*; and 
very soon an animal of the fish kind made his ap¬ 
pearance nearly in this attitude and manner : — 
