SEA SERPENT.
The first sea-serpent yarn of the season, and the first for several years, is reported from San Diego, in Southern California. The story is told by two ladies who saw the monster while they were walking on Florence Heights, overlooking the land-locked Bay of San Diego. They saw a large head and long neck rise above the placid waters of the bay and move rapidly across the channel, a distance of nearly half a mile. The foaming wake made by this marine creature indicated that a large body was hidden by the water. The ladies say that the rush across the bay was made in about 10sec. The marvellous speed and curious shape of the monster made them wonder greatly, and they are firmly convinced that what they saw was a genuine sea-serpent. Other people also witnessed the strange sight. Hair seals occasionally come into this bay from their rookeries on Coronado Islands, eight miles off shore. But the ladies are positive that the head and neck seen by them could not have belonged to a seal. The rapidity of motion of the creature was far greater than it is possible for a seal to attain. The ladies who observed the strange sight live in Orange, N.J., and are at San Diego in search of health. Many scientific men believe that sea-serpents exist [hence follows a long discussion of 'the remains of sea serpents' without truly explaining that they're millions of years old]. According to the description of the head and neck of the sea monster the San Diego ladies saw dart across the bay, it resembled in form that of the Hippocamus heptagorus [sic] or sea-horse, which is frequently found along the Atlantic coast [thousands of miles away, and mere centimetres long].
From the Guernsey Star, August 23rd 1894.
