ABOUT SEA SERPENTS

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LVIII, Issue 95, 30 November 1937, Page 6

ABOUT SEA SERPENTS

THE PRESENT v. THE PAST.

Ocean travellers are again on the lookout for sea monsters, says Marshall Sprague, in the "New York Times." Recent reports have it that a giant stingray, measuring 50 feet across, battled the freighter Lewis Luckenbach for two days in Mexican waters; that a 30ft. sea serpent with a flowing red mane and dinner-plate eyes appeared briefly off the Scottish coast; that Mediterranean fishermen near Tripoli barely escaped death at the hands—or horns—of a monster with moose-like antlers and elephant ears.

The reports seem in the best classic tradition as established in 750 B.C. by Jonah's account of howawful it felt to be swallowed by a whale.

Aristotle was the first expert to describe the sea serpent, which, he said, had a way of cantering out of the Mediterranean now and then to chase fat cows around the Libyan desert.

Some historians claim that a huge sucker-fish, not Cleopatra, led to Antony's defeat at Actium in 31 B.C. The sucker-fish prevented Antony's flagship from going forward by clinging to the hull and swimming like mad in the opposite direction. The great Roman naturalist, Pliny the elder, contributed to science by declaring in 70 A.D. that the Greeks rode between Crete and the mainland on the backs^ of trained dolphins. Mermaids and mermen were frequently seen by seafaring folk during the Middle Ages, but it was not until 1187 that one was actually caught by Suffolk fishermen in the North Sea.

Whales, krakens (squids) and sea serpents were the hobbies of the Norwegian Archbishop of Upsala, Olaus Magnus. His favourite whale was "as big as an island. A party of men landed upon it, believing it uncharted country. They built a roaring fire and when the whale felt the heat it sank and all the men perished."

In 1555 A.D. the good archbishop warned the natives of the sea coast to "beware of the mighty sea serpent that lives in the water-caves. It is 200 feet long and 20 feet thick, and it feeds on calves, lambs and tender children. It has sharp scales along its back and flaming eyes."

One of the most highly respected sea serpents was that reported in 1734 by a Norwegian pastor, Hans Egede, who stated: "We were off Greenland on July 6 when appeared a very terrible sea monster which raised itself so high out of water that its head reached above our mainmast. It had a long, sharp snout, and blew like a whale; had broad, large flappers, and the body was covered with hard skin. The low part was formed like a snake and, when under water again, it cast itself backward and, in so doing, raised its tail above water a whole ship length from its body." A Frenchman, Denys de Montfort, about 1800, told of a squid which nearly capsized a three-masted schooner by grasping the masts in its arms. Of many thousand successful sea serpent seers, none has been blessed with a sight comparable to that which met the eyes of A. H. Raymer, second officer of the steamer Fort Salisbury, on October 28, 1902. Looking out upon the dark Atlantic, he saw "a huge creature about 600ft. long and 30ft. wide, with two eyes like masthead lights. Then, slowly, it sank, eyes and all." During the war many innocent sea serpents found themselves drawn into the conflict. When the German submarine U-28 sank a freighter in the English Channel in 1915, the German commander, Baron von Forstner, wrote in his log: "The boat exploded under water, and suddenly a great sea serpent 65ft. long came wriggling- up to the surface." Though no sea serpent has ever been captured, scientists refuse to state flatly that it does- not exist. The 100ft. rorqual whale, the 65ft. basking shark, the giant squid— these monsters would sniff in scorn at the timid sea serpent with its small head, tapering neck, high-set girlish brown eyes and fondness for fruit salad. However, mere size is no measure of viciousness. The 20ft. man-eating white sharks, the small killer whales and the 15ft. swordfish are the real gangsters of the deep.