The mythical monstrous serpent Leviathan (translated as "wriggling beast") came to us from Babylon and Canaan as the personification of all the forces of evil. His huge eyes made it possible to see through the dark water column, a row of sharp teeth sparkled in a terrible mouth, and a huge elongated head crowned a long and thin neck.
A distant relative of the biblical Leviathan, the dragon serpent is especially revered in the culture of the East. Here he was always considered not a fiend of hell, as in Europe, but a kind and wise guardian. The eastern "king of dragons" is mighty, and its length is no less than half a kilometer. All natural elements obey him, he is a werewolf and can take the form of a gray-haired old man. The dragon lives in an underwater palace and is the keeper of untold riches. He controls the oceans, seas, rivers, as well as the economies of all underwater kingdoms.
This is the background of the legendary monster. But already at the beginning of the 16th century, the Swedish scientist Olaus Magnus, in his historical and geographical work "Sea Map", reported on the dangers that await travelers when meeting with dragon snakes of the deep sea. They were especially formidable for sailors sailing on small ships. In the four centuries after Magnus' reports, little has changed: sea snakes in all subsequent years constantly disturbed explorers and sailors.
A very curious fact is cited by the French researcher M. Geer: “In July 1897, the gunboat Avalanche met two snakes 20 m long and 2-3 m thick in Along Bay. A cannon shot from a distance of 600 m made them disappear under water. On February 15, 1898, the same ship and at the same place again met a serpent; a shot followed from a distance of 300 m, and the ship went forward at full speed, trying to overtake the animals. At the moment when the ship was already quite close to the fugitives, one of the monsters dived under the gunboat and emerged behind her. One can imagine the confusion of the crew at that moment. 9 days later, off the same coast, "Avalanche" again met two previously seen animals. The hunt lasted 35 minutes, but was unsuccessful."
There are many incomprehensible things in this story. Firstly, why did only the crew of one gunboat see the kite every time, and the crews of other ships did not show them? Second, it is difficult to explain the monsters' commitment to a permanent place. Finally, thirdly, their invulnerability is absolutely amazing: a warship at a minimum distance leads artillery fire at the target, but there are no results.
Finding no explanation for the above facts, M. Geer points out that "the story of this incident was regarded in the highest instance as a collective hallucination," although he himself, apparently, does not fully agree with the opinion of the high naval authorities. After all, the case with "Avalanche" is not the only one. So, the crew of the ship "Polina" in 1875 twice witnessed the battle of the sea snake with the sperm whale, about which the corresponding entries were made in the logbook on July 8 and 13.
People had to face a creature unknown to science during the First World War. In 1916, the commander of the German submarine 0-28 reported to the command that after the sinking of the British steamer Iberian, "a monster with a long tail and two pairs of powerful paws with membranes, somewhat reminiscent of a 60-foot crocodile, rose from the depths."
In May 1917, the crew of the British cruiser Hilary met with the mysterious serpent. The vessel was patrolling the North Sea 70 miles southeast of the Icelandic coast when suddenly a serpentine neck about 30 feet high rose above the water. A triangular dorsal fin was also visible. The practical ship commander, not inclined to sentimentality, decided that the sea serpent was an ideal target for shooting practice, and ordered the shells to be prepared. However, it was not possible to shoot the monster - at the same second he instantly disappeared into the depths of the ocean.
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In March 2008, Norwegian scientists from the Natural History Museum of the University of Oslo, Norway, published a work that had a stunning effect. It turned out that a year ago, in the area of the Arctic island archipelago of Svalbard, an expedition led by Professor Jorn Harald Hurum discovered the remains of a giant marine reptile. The lizard was nicknamed "monster". It is one of 40 animals whose fossils have been found in the archipelago, a Jurassic marine reptile cemetery. Well-preserved fragments of the skull, neck and back, a shoulder girdle, several teeth, and almost an entire fin were found.
A preliminary analysis of the fossils showed that they belong to a short-necked plesiosaur, previously unknown to science. This animal had a teardrop-shaped body, two pairs of powerful fins, a short neck and a huge skull with large, banana-sized teeth. Scientists estimate that the monster was 15 meters long and its front fin was about 3 meters. Paleontologist Angela Miller of the London Museum of Natural History notes: “If you compare the skull of a pliosaur with that of a crocodile, it will become obvious that the plesiosaur has it much better suited for hunting: it has more powerful muscles and a huge mouth. " Indeed, the monster's jaws possessed such incredible strength that they could easily bite into a passenger car. "These fearsome animals were powerful predators that fed on fish, squid and other marine reptiles,"- notes the paleontologist Richard Forest.
Scientists are extracting the remains of another plesiosaur, presumably the same size and species. His shattered fangs and spine were discovered during excavations in August 2007. It is possible that in size it will surpass the previously discovered brother.
As you know, all the animals described above lived on Earth nearly 150 million years ago. The chances that they survived to this day, according to most zoologists, are close to zero. On the other hand, giant snakes, the legends of which were also passed from mouth to mouth for centuries, were also considered nothing more than a myth. So far, in September 2004, Japanese oceanographers failed to get the first image of the monster, quietly and peacefully floating at a depth of about 900 m near Bonin Island.
The legends of ocean and sea monsters have some real foundation. Spitsbergen is literally strewn with the bones of Jurassic reptiles. It is possible that medieval Viking sailors also came across the remains of prehistoric lizards, and well-preserved ones. And what were they supposed to think? They, in accordance with their ideas, saw in front of them the bones of dragons, slain by unknown heroes, or the remains of sea serpents. Over the centuries, stories about the creepy monsters that inhabit the northern archipelago became legends, acquiring more and more details.
Not so long ago, the Dutch scientist Oddemans collected all the information about giant sea snakes. According to him, the first documented meeting of sailors with a huge sea snake took place in 1522. Over the next three centuries, sailors saw snakes on average once every 10 years - by 1802, 28 cases were recorded. But in the 19th century, encounters with sea monsters sharply increased: between 1802 and 1890 they were seen 134 times! They came across them in the twentieth century. Despite this, so far no one has managed to photograph them. Mysterious sea monsters with equal success are saved from artillery fire, and from the lens directed at them.
In the middle of the 20th century, the crew of the English ship Daedalus also encountered a huge, snake-like creature at sea. It moved very quickly without making any swimming movements. A mysterious snake swam for about half an hour next to the ship. During this time, the crew managed to get a good look at the strange ocean monster.
According to the cryptozoologist from Germany Peter Ert, over the past decades, about 900 reports have been received about the appearance of snake-like creatures in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. One of them dates back to 1993. Brothers William and Robert Clarke once went to the ocean for a weekend. They settled down on a high cliff and could see everything that happens at sea and on land. There were few people on the beach, and the brothers watched as several sea lions frolic merrily near the shore. Suddenly, they saw a huge serpentine creature rapidly approaching the animals. There were no fins on the snake's body, it moved in a zigzag manner. The strange 20-meter monster was about 2 m thick. After the creature approached the lions, it jumped out of the water and pounced on them. Young people assured that they sawlike a creature swallowed one sea lion whole and disappeared into the depths.
In 1926, a monster was spotted at night off the coast of Madagascar. This is reported by the French scientist Dr. J. Petit in his book "Fishing in Madagascar". The animal shone with a bright but fickle light that flashed and then faded away. It seemed that this light, which could be compared with a sea searchlight, was emitted by a body rotating on its axis.
According to the natives, this animal appears very rarely. Its length is 20–25 m, the body is wide and flat (which means that in this case we are not talking about a snake), covered with a rigid lamellar shell. His tail is like a shrimp, his mouth is on the belly. The head glows and radiates flame as the serpentine monster rises to the surface of the sea. The locals had no consensus regarding the structure of the monster. Some argued that the "master of the sea" was legless, while others believed that he had limbs similar to the flippers of a whale.
For a long time, the sea serpent did not fall into the field of view of scientists, perhaps because none of the serious experts believed in its existence. The situation changed in the 1960s, when the famous Belgian scientist Bernard Evelmans, who is rightfully considered the father of cryptozoology, became interested in this problem. The professor has collected over 500 reports of encounters with sea monsters. After a thorough check, designed to reveal outright falsifications, the database left 326 pieces of evidence. Computer analysis led to an unexpected result: it turned out that in the depths of the sea there were from 7 to 9 species of animals of very solid sizes unknown to science. Some of them look like snakes, others like plesiosaurs, and others like crocodiles. Evidence for these assumptions was soon found.
Both Soviet and foreign citizens, who gave detailed information about them, witnessed unsafe meetings with inhabitants unknown to science. For example, the former naval officer Y. Starikov reported that in 1953, in the area of the Kunashir Island (South Kuril Islands), together with the ship's crew, he saw a sea serpent that sailed not far from the ship at high speed, and then, lowering his head on a long neck in water, dived without splashing.
And the second evidence from the Far East. In 1955, naval officer Y. Litvinenko, together with other members of the team, saw a huge snake in the Tatar Strait, whose head was the size of a large watermelon and protruded 4 m above the water. The military determined the length of the body at 25 m.
In the Barents Sea in 1959, the command of the SKR-55 patrol ship under the command of Captain A. Lezov repeatedly met a swimming snake. Snakes in the northern seas were dark brown in color, while in the southern seas off Antarctica they were light brown and swam in groups of up to 30 individuals.
In July 1966, the American travelers Blyth and Ridgeway, while in the Atlantic Ocean on an ordinary rowing boat, met the Great Sea Serpent at night. They reported that a large snake-like head on a long flexible neck had risen out of the water. Saucer-sized bulging eyes, shimmering with greenish light, scanned the people. The creature swam, overtaking the boat, and continued to look at the travelers, turning its flat head in their direction. Soon an animal with a massive powerful body, bending its neck, dived under the water, leaving a luminous trail behind it. Describing what they saw, they reported that all eyewitnesses, under the gaze of the snake, were overwhelmed by the feeling of a frozen rabbit in front of a boa constrictor - people were numb.
These feelings are well conveyed by the Canadian fisherman George Zegers, who was fishing in the area of Vancouver Island: “Suddenly I felt very strange. A shiver ran down my spine. I felt someone's gaze on me and looked around. Fifty meters from the boat, there was a head on a neck, 30 cm in diameter and more than a meter long. Two jet-black eyes stared at me. They were prominent on the head. The head was about 40 cm in diameter and rose three meters above the water. The animal looked no more than a minute and, turning away, swam away. On his back was the appearance of a dark brown mane."
On July 14, 1993, Canadian pilots Don Berends and James Wells on the Cessna seaplane saw two gray-blue snakes in the Saanish Bay area of the same Vancouver Island, which were bent in a vertical plane as they moved. Researcher Dr. Bousfield believes that in July Saanish Bay is the breeding ground for these creatures: at night they give birth to live cubs on the local coast.
Comparing all this data, the researchers divided the sea monsters into several categories:
"Long-necked" - reaches a length of 15 m. It is found in the oceans at great depths. Develops a speed of about 60 km / h. Until now, such long necks have been met dozens of times.
The "sea horse" is a mammal living at a depth of 30–40 m and feeding on fish. It got its name from its long mane. So far, this creature has been observed 39 times in equatorial waters.
“Multihump” is a monster 25-30 m long and as thick as a railway tank car. Floats very quickly; seeing ships next to him, immediately disappears under water. Lives in the warm waters of the North Atlantic current of the Gulf Stream. It was observed 33 times.
"Polyfin" - a creature similar to an extinct plesiosaur, reaches 30 m in length, has a huge snake head on a long and relatively thin neck. It has a distinctive feature: a snorting sniff is heard from its nostrils. Met in the Indian Ocean 20 times.
"Super-viper" - a creature up to 25 m long, covered with shiny fur, lives near the surface of the water in the northern seas. Met 14 times, the last one on May 27, 1999 in the Svalbard region.
"Superrug" - about 30 m long. It lives in deep cold waters, attacks sperm whales. He was seen 12 times.
The "sea lizard" is a terrible animal that resembles a giant crocodile. It lives exclusively in tropical seas. He was seen three times off the coast of India and four times off the southeastern coast of Australia.
This list is unlikely to be definitive, and if research is continued, the results are likely to be even more sensational.
Pernatiev Yuri Sergeevich. Brownies, mermaids and other mysterious creatures