Encounters with the sea serpent
Are there sea monsters? Are there really unknown giant creatures that live in the oceans, about which there is so much controversy, but relatively few have been able to see them with their own eyes, and even then, as a rule, only briefly? But even if he was lucky and managed to examine the creature properly, no one can say for sure what kind of animal it is, what kind …
It can be assumed: if so many giants live in the ocean, why not a giant sea serpent also exist there? Why are many of the scientists unwilling to take this seriously? Some of the researchers believe that if the giant sea serpent did not exist, we would have to invent one. Probably, we initially had a certain subconscious need for a terrible sea monster to live somewhere in the unknown, dark ocean depths …
A comment by the scholarly chronicler of the Illustrated London News, W. P. Pycraft, a zoologist with little inclination to gullibility: we haven't penetrated yet."
1903 - the east coast of Scotland was literally seized by hysteria, caused by the appearance of sea monsters. A head and neck were observed from the fishing boat Rosa 16 km northeast of Montros Town, which rose 6 feet (1.8 m) above the water surface.
It was reported that at the same time near Fraserburg the trawler "Glengrant" was attacked by sea serpent 200 feet (60 m) long! He had a head like a walrus, with large, green eyes, with a huge mouth in which you could see terrible sharp teeth, and with a long fin in the back of the back. Messages from those who saw the monster are similar to a plot from a horror movie.
“At 20 feet (6 meters) from the side of the ship, the sea serpent raised its head to a great height and, with a blood-chilling hiss, dived again … The ship pecked deeply with its nose down and scooped up a lot of water, which doused the entire deck and whipped into the engine compartment … To the horror of the crew, the kite emerged again and rushed at high speed towards the ship.
One of the sailors grabbed a gun and started shooting at the monster, which immediately went under the water. His body, as eyewitnesses have shown, was long and wriggled like a snake. It was an auspicious day for journalists: in all the newspapers, at every corner, they only said that about the sea snake …
“In the 1930s, ducks were shot on an island near Vancouver Island. One hunter shot a duck, it fell into the water, and he swam in a boat after it to pick it up. When the hunter was already near the thickets of seaweed where the shot duck fell, he saw something under the water that attracted his attention. A moment later, this huge creature appeared above the water - with a head like a horse and a neck as long as a man. This animal, with a calm look, swallowed the killed duck lying under the hunter's nose. The snake almost touched him! In such cases, it is hardly worth talking about illusions. The steamship Mauritania of the transatlantic steamship company Canar Line encountered the sea serpent at three different locations during the winter cruise of 1933-1934. to the Antilles.
The first sea monster, black as a raven's wing, was seen on January 30, 1934 at 13.20. two watch officers about a mile from St. Ustash Island. Its length was more than 20 meters, and its thickness reached 2 meters. His head towered two meters above the water surface. About 14 meters of its curved body was guessed almost at the very surface of the water.
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The second monster was spotted on February 2nd near Gu-era. It seemed to be no more than 7.5 meters in length, but its width, side fins and wide open mouth suggested that it was a giant manta ray.
As for the third sea monster, 18 meters long, which exposed four humps from the water, each decorated with a triangular fin, it was met in March, almost 100 km east of Nassau, in the Bahamas. Its appearance resembled a number of sea serpents with numerous fins.
All three meetings were recorded in the logbook, which is available in the archives of the Canar Line company. Note the relative rarity of such encounters, it may be surprising that one ship met a sea serpent three times in one season.
The man who shot the monster in Glocester Harbor wrote:
“I, Matthew Gaphney of Glocester, Essex, a ship carpenter by trade, claim that on the 14th day of August 1817 from the birth of Christ, between 4-5 pm, I saw a strange sea animal that resembled a snake in the harbor of Glosester, which I have already mentioned.
I was in the boat 30 feet (9.1 meters) from him. The sea serpent's head was completely above the water and was the same size as a four-gallon (15.1 liter) keg; the body was as thick as a barrel, and the length - at least of the part I could see - was 40 feet (12.2 meters). The top of the head was dark in color and the underneath it was almost white, like the few feet of his belly I could see.
I shot him at a time when he was at the shortest distance from me. I have a good shotgun and I didn't miss. I shot him in the head and I think I wounded him. Turning to us immediately after the shot, he began to approach us. Then he suddenly began to submerge and went under the water directly under our boat, and surfaced already about 100 yards from the place of disappearance under water. He dived all at once - he went under the water like a stone."
“One day in July, I didn’t remember exactly the date, I was on watch from 4 to 8 in the morning and was finishing determining our place by the stars. At 5 h. 20 min. it was already light. I was in front of the wheelhouse window, bent over a notebook, doing calculations, when the helmsman on duty shouted: "Captain, there is something huge ahead!" But just a few seconds ago, there was nothing. I looked up and saw a creature that rose entirely from the water and then plunged without raising even the slightest wave. I noticed this because when a whale jumps out of the water in this way, spray rises to the sky, like from a 12-inch shell. I took the binoculars and began to follow him. The sea was smooth as a mirror. The monster dived towards the ship and a few seconds later appeared ahead on the starboard side, about one mile away,and moved quickly in the opposite direction.
I estimate the speed of this animal to be approximately equal to ours, about 15 knots. During the jump, his long neck and two humps were clearly visible above the water. On the shouts of the helmsman, his comrade, who was not on duty, came running, also with binoculars. The sea serpent dived in this way four times at very short intervals and in one of its next appearances on the surface found itself abeam the starboard side at a distance of about 800 meters. We could easily see the snake: it was on the surface for some time, arching its neck and preparing to jump. His head turned towards the ship, but the black body remained completely inflexible - not a hint of hesitation. If I had a camera or a movie camera, I could shoot a film for 30 seconds, since 800 meters from a 17-meter height is quite close."
1976 - Bolinas cleric Tom D'Onofrio gave this message to the Great Western Pacific Coastal Report:
“1976, September 30 - at 12 noon an event happened to me that shocked me. I was engaged in woodcarving: I carved the head of a dragon - this part was supposed to be like the base of the writing table - and I could not finish the work. Suddenly, it was like someone pushed me down to Aegate Beach; there I met my friend, Dick Borgstrom.
Suddenly, 150 feet (46 meters) from the shore, I saw this very dragon - huge, 60 feet long (18 meters) and 15 feet (4.6 meters) thick. He frolicked in the oncoming waves.
One got the impression that the sea serpent was actually engaged in playing with the waves, whipping its tail in the water. We looked at it as if spellbound for about 10 minutes, without taking our eyes off and without moving. I felt the way I probably would feel in the presence of God. Since that time my life has absolutely changed."
Dr. F. Mateson, a physician from London, although not a certified zoologist, but a person with knowledge of anatomy, discovered a huge sea monster off the coast of Scotland, boating with his wife in Keele, as the narrow entrance to Loch Alsh harbor is called.
“It was a wonderful day,” he said, “what one can only dream of, the sun was shining with might and main, there was not a cloud in the sky. An hour or two in the afternoon. Our boat is briskly sailing, and then suddenly, right in front of us, something huge seems to grow out of the cart: higher than our mast, smooth, like a long neck. At first I did not understand what had happened, and threw to my wife: “See?” She asked what it could be, her voice was somewhat frightened.
There were 200 meters between us, and the distance was constantly decreasing. Suddenly the neck dropped, and I realized that we were facing a huge sea monster, something like a huge lizard. He had brown tinted skin and a black stripe under his head. It looked like a giraffe, except that it was longer and the head was located somewhat differently, not at a right angle to the neck, but rather as an extension of it. The head swayed from side to side and it was clear how damp skin glistens in the sun."
The creature disappeared into the water, after two minutes it appeared again and began to recede. Dr. Matheson followed the animal for about a mile until it finally disappeared into the depths.
“I didn’t see the torso,” the doctor continued, “only waves where it should have been, but its size probably inspires respect. It seemed to me that it was not just a sea serpent, but some unprecedented animal, large and powerful, resembling a giant lizard."
1893, December 4 - "Umfuli" went under full steam to the south, heading for the Cape of Good Hope. The vessel was sailing the waters of Mauritania when an event occurred, which was recorded in the logbook:
“5 hours 30 minutes. afternoon. A sea animal in the form of a snake, about 24 meters long, was seen 500 meters from the ship. The skin is moist, short fins on the back six meters apart; the girth of the body is not less than that of a large whale. Through binoculars I could clearly see how the animal opened and closed its mouth. The lower jaw is about 2 meters long, with a row of huge teeth. The monster was very much like a conger eel. Signed: Powell, the ship's mate.
This official report, drawn up in a dry, official language, the captain added with some details that allow us to imagine what the mysterious creature looked like:
“When we saw the snake, he was 400 meters away. He moved very quickly, his chest churned with a wave, like a ship's bow. The neck together with the head was about 4.5 meters - I had time to get a good look at the animal … The tail, or rather, the body was thicker than the neck. There was no breeze, the water is absolutely calm, like in a pond, the visibility is wonderful, and I would hardly be able to make a mistake, considering the creature. And besides, it didn't float away until it got completely dark."
1896, March 5 - in the column of the chronicle of "Courier Haiphong" there is a mention of "encounters with one or more hitherto unknown animals - real sea monsters, similar to sea snakes, which fell to the lot of gunboat" Avalanche "in Faishilong Bay.", July - from the "Avalanche" we saw two animals of strange shape and huge size in the sea in Along Bay; their length was about 20 meters, their diameter was from 2 to 3 meters. The peculiarity of these creatures was that their body did not at all have the hardness of the famous cetaceans, it always wriggled in waves, like a snake, but only vertically. We loaded the cannon and a shot was fired from 600 meters. Immediately the snakes dived, whistling noisily, and burunches appeared on the surface, as if at high tide. They did not appear again, but they managed to make out the head of one, which, apparently,was small in size.
1898, February 15 - when crossing Faishilong Bay, I again noticed similar animals. I immediately decided to start hunting them, ordering them to load the guns. We fired at one several times from a distance of 300 to 400 meters, and at least two shells hit the target, but did not seem to cause him any harm - the shells exploded on the surface of the body. I also wanted to catch up with them, but their speed was much higher than that of the Avalanche. The animal often surfaced, and it was always possible to observe undulating body movements. Each emergence was preceded by a fountain of water, or rather, a spray of water produced by a noisy exhalation. In contrast to common whales, they suck in water and throw it out to great heights.
The color of the animal was gray with a lot of black spots. It was easy to track because of this breathing, which formed on the sea surface, then absolutely calm, circles with a diameter of 4 - 5 meters. Once, it seems to me, almost managed to drive him. The hunt went on without success for an hour and a half and was abandoned due to nightfall."
1905, April 3 - Captain P. Guyu, who was returning from Chile on board the Rhone, before passing Cape Horn, had a very strange meeting:
“… I saw how the head of an animal, which I can most likely compare with those that adorned the noses of the ships of Scandinavian pirates and large junks in Niger, poked out of the water at a height of one and a half meters along the wake. The creature seemed to be at a loss. I saw only the neck and head. It was moving at a fairly significant speed."
1905, August 5. The general was on a sea voyage with his two sons, the eldest, artillery captain G. M. Meriam, and the younger, Charles, and with two of their friends, when their sailboat became calm near the Wood Island lighthouse. Everything that happens while they waited for the wind was described by the general in a letter sent to Dr. Frederick A. Lucas, then curator of the American National Museum.
“There was a noisy splash of water at some distance from the bow of our boat, from which everyone shuddered, and, looking in this direction, we saw what looked like a monstrous sea serpent. Its head rose several feet above the surface, its elongated body was clearly visible: it was lazily moving towards our ship in writhing "serpentine" movements … The monster followed its course and rounded our ship, maintaining a distance of about 300 meters … The sea serpent was swimming at a constant speed, about 19 km / h, and kept his head upturned about twenty meters above the water with the clear intention of looking at our ship from all sides, it had no dorsal fin, at least I did not notice.
His back, it seemed to me, was brown and motley, turning into bright yellow on the belly. The head looked like a snake, and in the part visible above the water, that is, on the neck, it was approximately 38 - 45 cm in diameter.
I can estimate its length at 18 meters or a little more. The creature swam around us, and it was at least 10 minutes, and kept its head up all the time, and then calmly diving, disappeared into the depths."
When the wind rose and the sailboat passed about half a mile towards the shore, the mysterious animal reappeared and, still curious, swam parallel to the sailboat for quite some time until it disappeared completely.
1894 July - When it was very hot (which is remarkable), two sea snakes were spotted in the sea north of Norway. One of them put a real blockade on the fishing village of Erviken, barely 1,200 meters from Hammerfest, remaining within reach from the shore throughout the day. Seven fishermen saw him, but they dared neither go out to sea this day, nor go to Hammerfest by boat to call the whalers and harpoon the animal.
"The sea serpent," reported Finnmarkposten, "was dark yellow, with a rounded body and a length of at least 55 meters. It moved at great speed, wriggling like a snake. The head was approximately the size of a barrel, but slightly sharper in front, and immediately behind it the creature had a large ring (from pinching? - Author), located between the head and the body, which was smooth and without fins.
This monster was seen the same day by the crews of three ships from Hammerfest and from one neighboring area.
It was a sea serpent with three humps, which is common for long-necked specimens, such as the one that appeared on the other side of Norway on 4 August 1902, that is, at the entrance to the Oslo Fjord, and was observed by several people from the sailing yacht Tonny. There were 11 people on board, including the owner of the ship, the Reverend Hans Davidsen, to whom we entrust the task of describing the animal seen at half past four in the afternoon:
“We knew immediately that it was an unknown marine animal: it was approaching, as far as we could tell, at a speed of about 4 miles per hour. It was one or two cables away from us (200 or 400 m).
At times, three large humps emerged from the water, and three of us clearly saw the head of the animal, round in shape, the length of which they estimated at about a meter. The humps formed a continuous series and were dark in color with a shiny surface. They may have been 60 centimeters in diameter. From the side, the monster's movements appeared to be undulating. It is impossible to give an accurate estimate of the length of the creature. From the way we have seen, the head and the three visible humps no doubt add up to 6 meters. Considering the distance between the head and humps and the length and width of the latter, the total length of the creature could be about 15-16 meters.
Because of the high speed, the sea serpent left a large furrow behind it. We didn't see any foam, but we noticed that the front of the torso was raising a significant wave. The head was kept close to the water surface, in an inclined position. One of the passengers claims to have been able to distinguish a fin on the creature's back. We watched him for 5-10 minutes, sometimes with the naked eye, and sometimes with binoculars."
July 8, 1898 - Captain Joseph Donovan and all of Selma's officers are said to have met a family of sea kites in the Sargasso Sea. The first of the monsters seen reached 12 meters, had an elongated head with some kind of beak, similar to that of an octopus, and from this beak it released huge jets of water. A little later, the first was joined by the second, already up to 60 meters long, with a luxurious mane and a huge fin on the back. Eventually, a third monster appeared, very small, about three meters long: it also had a dorsal fin and 4 swimming blades could be discerned. Mr F. W. Van Earp, Third Mate B. J. Bruinsma from the steamer Potsdam:
“1910, December 13 - at one o'clock in the afternoon, when the watch was changed, a little ahead along the traverse, we saw a strange fish on the starboard side. Close up, we found that it rather has the shape of a giant snake, 35 to 40 meters long and with a circumference of about 60 cm. The snake moved very quickly. At times, his head rose almost perpendicularly above the water surface, to a height of 2.5 - 3 m; she was in this position for some time, then hid again. Both of these movements took place with a powerful ejection of water to a height of about 6 meters, while the tail raised an equally powerful wave (the tail had a flattened shape with an extension and with a forked end). In addition, there was a slight bend in the torso. The color was dark gray on top and white on the underside, the same was observed on the head. The sea serpent remained in view for about three minutes."