Sea monster at Porthleven, Cornwall

From the Northampton Mercury, 7th October 1786.


The following comes authenticated from a Gentleman of Morillian, in Cornwall, dated Sept. 15.

Description of a surprizing Sea-Monster driven on Shore in Portleaven-Bay on the Coast of Cornwall, on the 14th of Sept. 1786, by the strong Westerly Winds and tempestuous Weather, which continued for several Days, and did much Damage in that Neighbourhood.

 This Monster was first discovered by two Boys who (agreeable to the Custom of that Place) went in Search of Wreck soon after Day-break; and as they stood on the Cliff which commanded a Prospect of a small Sandy Cove, they, at a Distance of about a Mile, discovered something of enormous Bulk near the Shore, and which after a short Time they apprehended to be the Side or Part of an unfortunate Ship which had the preceding Night been broken to Pieces by the Extremity of the Shore:

They immediately went towards the Place with sanguine Expectation of great Success, and as they approached the Spot (the breaking Waves at Times leaving it dry) they were both struck with the utmost Consternation on perceiving such Motions as convinced them it was something which had Life: They then hastened with great Fear to some Men of their Acquaintance, and related what they had seen in a terrifying Manner: At first their Report was not credited, but after many strong and particular Declarations of the Fact, a great Number of People soon collected themselves into a Body, and determined to go armed, some with large Sticks and Pokers, others with Hatchets, Spits, &c. which was, after some Deliberation, carried into Execution.

On their coming near the Spot they perceived it to be something living, as was represented, and it raised its Head, which had not before ben perceived, and appeared to direct its Course towards them. All were alarmed, some stood their Ground, others possessed with greater Fear turned back; they could see no Legs to it, but it appeared to crawl on its Belly, raising its Body at Times a little from the Sand.


Various were the Opinions about this Creature; some said it was a Mermaid, others a Whale -- but the greater Number disbelieving the Existence of the former, and adhering to the Improbability of the latter, they were all equally at a Loss. When it was agreed to examine what it was, they all went towards it, and after an Hour's beating, stabbing it, &c. it expired with a Groan. Its Length was found to be from the Top of its Head, tot the End of its Tail 48 Feet, 10 Inches, and its Circumference in the largest Part of the Body, 24 Feet and a Half: Its Head was large, and prickly in the hinder Part, and not formed much unlike that of a Man; its Eyes were greenish; its Mouth large; its Nose flat, and from its Neck, to the Naval, resembling nearest to the human Kind; its Back was hard, and more difficult to penetrate than the Shell of a Turtle; it had two short fore Feet, formed like the Paw of a Monkey, and its hinder Parts shaped somewhat like the hinder Part of a Porpoise; it had a large Fan Tail, which, when spread, measured full seven Feet in width at the Extent, and but five Feet long.

It is supposed a large Quantity of Oil will be produced from it, which, with the Shell of its Back and its Fins, are judged, if properly managed, to be of great Value, and will be of considerable Benefit to this Neighbourhood. No one that has seen it, knows its Name, nor has any Monster like it ever been described in Record, or come within the Knowledge of this Kingdom.

Great sea serpent (source)

Enormous animal off Lewis

It is reported that an enormous animal has lately been seen off the island of Lewis, floating on the water; and a similar occurrence happened ten years ago at the same place. Several persons had seen it, and for some time few people ventured out upon the coast. It were idle to say that the animal in question was merely a whale, for the people of these islands are sufficiently familiar with whales to know one when it comes their way, and are more acute observers than might be imagined by the learned naturalists. All that can be said on the subject is, that a strange animal, whether of a species known to naturalists or not, has lately visited these islands. Its length was stated to be upwards of eighty feet, and its form attenuated. -- Edinburgh Lit. Gaz.

Morning Chronicle, April 13th, 1830.

Sea serpent at New Haven, Connecticut

NEWHAVEN (America), Nov. 13. -- SEA-SERPENT AGAIN.

On Tuesday last, the 11th inst., in the fore-noon, while Mr. Jonah Platt, and Mr. William Platt, were on the shore about 7 miles west of Newhaven lighthouse, they saw a strange animal, answering the description heretofore given of the sea-serpent, pass about 20 rods from the shore, going westward, his head about 2 feet above water, his speed far greater than that of any animal they ever saw move in the water; in their opinion he went a mile a minute; his wake was as great as that of a common-sized yawl; the wild fowl appeared much frightened, and flew in every direction as he approached them. The foregoing was given me by one fo the beholders, in whom you may place implicit confidence.

The Times, December 19th, 1817.

Sea serpent near San Diego

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.

 

Sea monster, Alexandria

A SEA MONSTER.
(From the American Papers.)

Alexandria, Dec. 9. 
The brig Trim, Capt. Cleveland on her passage from Gibraltar to this port, on the 25th of October, in lat.31. long.20. passed a substance in the water, about 25 or 30 feet from the vessel, which from its extraordinary appearance, induced the Captain to tack ship with a view to examine what it was -- the wind being light from the W.S.W. caused the boat to be lowered down, and sent the mate with two men to make discovery.

On their return they gave the following description:--
"When we came in sight of the before-mentioned substance, turned the boat and tacked her stern nearly over him, then about four feet under water lying coiled up with its head on top of the coil -- the head being pointed, and about 12 or 14 inches in length, with upper and lower tushes or teeth, appeared from three to four inches outside, the jaw shut within each other, appeared curvely like the tush of a hog, and extremely white.

"His body had the appearance in size of about three to three and a half feet in circumference, tapering towards the tail -- and his colour was of the deepest crimson, and reflected through the water some yards. The boat being to leeward of the reptile, the little wind and sea, while they stood viewing him, drifted it off about 30 to 40 feet, the mate then concluded to hook him; the noise of the oars at the first stroke started him, he threw himself out at his length, with his head towards the boat and came very near, raising himself nearly to the surface of the water in an attitude of attack, it was judged best to make for the vessel. His length could not have been less than 30 to 40 feet, and we judge him to be in form and appearance like a sea serpent."

From the Liverpool Mercury, January 26th, 1816.

Sea monster off Australia, the Exmouth Gulf

A SEA MONSTER.

Mr Alfred Morris writes the following to Nature from Sydney, New South Wales, under date August 4th:-

A friend of mine, Captain W. Hopkins, of the schooner Mary Ogilvie, who has just returned from a voyage all round Australia, has given me the following information, which I forward you for publication, not so much because of its interesting character, but in order that other travellers may throw some light upon the character of the animal, which, if an octopus, must be of much larger dimensions than those usually met with. On June 15, when in S. lat. 21 deg. 37 sec. and E. long. 113 deg. 49 sec., about five miles off the Exmouth Gulf, on the western coast of the continent, he saw an immense creature which he took to be a species of octopus. His attention was drawn to it by a perfect cloud of sea birds, and at first he naturally thought it must be a dead carcase. On approaching it, however, he found it was alive, and sluggishly disporting itself. In shape it was like a violin, but of immense size, with some six feelers about the greater diameters of the violin. It lay almost flat upon the water, was of a dark grey above and lighter grey below, and was continually elevating one of its feelers, apparently twice the thickness of a man's arm, to a height of six to eight feet. It appeared to be vomiting, and as the birds were evidently feeding, that accounted for their presence in such numbers. Its size was so great that, had it grasped the vessel, it could easily have capsized it. The captain, therefore, got out of the way as quickly as possible, and without making definite measurements; but a large whale in the vicinity looked quite diminutive. It is a pity that something more exact as to size is not available, but I think the description is sufficient to convey an idea of the nature of the monster. all along the northern and western shores of the continent vast shoals of pumice, in portions varying in size from ordinary gravel to about a foot in diameter, and completely covered with barnacles, were passed through.

From the Dundee Courier, October 3rd, 1884.

Part of the Exmouth Gulf, by Jon Hansen

Sea creature at Gerran's Bay, Cornwall

An account from Sheila Bird, in 'Strange Days'.

"One fine summer's evening, I was walking along the shores of Gerran's Bay, with my brother (who is a high flown scientist, not given to flights of fancy), when he suddenly drew my attention to something in the water. "What on earth's that?!" he cried, and to my astonishment I saw an enormous sea creature - sea monster - just off shore, about 300 metres from the shore. And we were looking down from a height, at an oblique angle, and it had a long neck, an enormous hump, two smaller humps (and they were muscular, and you could see the muscles rippling as it was propelling itself rapidly along). And then we realised it had a long tail which was just below the surface, and which was as long as the trunk part. And surprisingly, the monster had this long neck, and for the size of the animal, a very small head. And in a way it looked rather endearing, because it had its head at a pert angle, and its nose in the air. And it was moving very rapidly, and very smoothly - it was gliding very fast. And it was quite surprising, in view of the size of the animal, that it was making very little disturbance on the glassy still surface of the water. We watched for about five minutes. Then all of a sudden it submerged. And it didn't, as one might expect, put its head down for a dive, it just went down like a submarine. First of all the hump disappeared, and then there was the neck, and the little head, and the last we saw of it was the little head and the nose disappearing below the surface of the water, with scarcely a ripple.

Inverness-shire sea serpent

THE SEA-SERPENT.

A gentleman, says the Inverness Courier, on whose intelligent observation and accuracy we have perfect reliance, sends the following account of a strange animal now to be seen about the west coast of Inverness-shire, and which, if not the veritable or traditional sea-serpent, must be the object so often represented under that appellation:--

"On Tuesday last I went on a trip to Lochourn in my small sailing boat. I was accompanied by my friend and your acquaintance, the Rev. Mr --, of Kent, my two daughters, a young man, my grandson, and a servant lad. While we were proceeding along the Sound of Sleat it fell calm, and we were rowing the boat when we observed behind us a row of dark masses, which we took, at the first glance for a shoal of porpoises; but a second look showed that these masses formed one and the same creature, for it moved slowly across our wake, about 200 yards off, and disappeared.

Soon afterwards what seemed to be its head re-appeared, followed by the bumps or undulations of its body, which rose in succession till we counted eight of them. It approached now within about a hundred yards or less, and with the help of binoculars, of which there happened to be three on board, we could see it pretty distinctly. We did not see its eyes, nor observe any scales; but two of the party believed that they saw what they took to be a small fin moving above the water. It then slowly sunk, and moved away just under the surface of the water, for we could trace its course till it rose again, by the large waves raised above it to the distance of a mile and upwards.

We had no means of measuring its size with any accuracy; but taking the distance from the centre of one bump or undulation of its body to that of another at six feet (and it could not be less), the length of the portion visible above the water would be about fift feet; and there may have been twenty or thirty feet more of its length which we did not see. Its head seemed blunt, and looked about eighteen inches in diameter, and the bumps were rather larger than the head. When in rapid motion, the bumps disappeared, and only the head and neck could be seen partly above the surface of the water. It continued to rush about in the same manner as long as we remained in sight of the place, but did not again come so near us that day.

On the afternoon of the next day, as we were returning home, we encountered our strange acquaintance again within the entrance of Lochourn, and saw him careering swiftly along the surface of the water, which was now slightly rippled with a light air of wind. It passed once abeam of us, at the distance of about 150 yards, with its head half out of the water, and we distinctly heard the whizzing noise it made as it rushed through the water. There were no organs of motion to be seen, and its progress was equable and smomoth, like that of a log towed rapidly. It passed on towards Kylerhea, alternately sinking and rising, till the advancing twilight rendered it no longer visible to us."

From the Glasgow Herald, August 31st 1872.

The Sound of Sleat (by Nigel Brown)