3 £ 
About two years after hearing this, while on a journey to In¬ 
dian Old town, as one of the Massachusetts Commissioners to in¬ 
duce the Indians to cultivate their lands, I had opportunity to 
make further inquiry, and find in my journal the following entry. 
“Sept, io, 13 u. Have heard to-day further testimony re¬ 
specting the Sea Serpent of the Penobscot. A Mr. Staples of 
Prospect, of whom I inquired as I passed, was told by a Mr, 
Miller, of one of the islands of the bay, that he had seen it; and 
‘ it was as big as a sloop’s boom, and about sixty or seventy feet 
long.’ He told me also that about 1780, as a schooner was ly¬ 
ing at the mouth of the river, or in the bay, one of these enor¬ 
mous creatures leaped over it between the masts—that the men 
ran into the hold for fright, and that the weight of the serpent 
sunk the vessel ‘ one streak,’ or plank. The schooner was of 
about eighteen tons.” 
These extracts I put into your hands, dear sir, without any 
comment. If they shall tend to increase the evidence of facts, 
on which the Linnaean Society is seeking information- you will 
make of them what use is deemed expedient. It is, however, 
proper to suggest, that the Rev. Mr. Cummings can probably 
furnish more testimony on the subject, although I attempted to 
elicit from him what he possessed. He is now, I believe, on mis¬ 
sion, (with a boat obtained in this town,) at the G.and Menan, 
or in its vicinity. 
With great respect, 
Your, and the Society’s obed’t servant, 
WILLIAM JENKS. 
Hon’ble Judge Davis, 
President of the Linncean Society, 
XX. 
The account given by Pontoppidan of the Sea Snake said to 
have been often seen near the coast of Norway, agrees in so ma¬ 
ny particulars with the preceding depositions and statements, that 
your Committee think proper to lay it before you, as affording 
additional evidence of the existence of the animal, described m 
