SEA SERPENT IN LITERATURE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 101, 2 May 1925, Page 17

SEA SERPENT IN LITERATURE

Mr. J G. Lockhart, in "The Mystenes of^the Sea". (Philip Allan and Co., London), deals with the sea-serpent. Ihese were sighted frequently between 18i 8- an?oi ß23- ,Then "l Win im, and in 1849. Then there was a gap of twenty years, but the sea-serpent was seen again in .LB4B by the officers and crew^of M.H.S.. Daedalus, and also by the Daphne. In 1857 it was seen near bt.. Helena. Its length is variously reported as between 100 ft, and 200 ft It £2? c se'e -ri °"C? m°1'° in 1875 < illl(i »' 1905. Ihc descriptions are all much the, same—" Iho long serpentine crea-ture,..-with a series of humps, a head ike a horse, the colour dark on top and light below, moving by undulations appealing during the summer, and never attacking anyone, even under provocation. The evidence seems to bo quite good, for th 0 .creaturo has been seen a dozen times in a century and ths suggestions of the more advanced scienco of to-day are that, both on land and in sea, there linger in out-oMhe-jvav places strange creatures which belonged to a previous-stage in the world's history. Tho existence of ths sea-monster is even better established. It is well known _that huge polyps exist, and it is quite likely that, here or there may be found some of extraordinary sizo and strength. The general appearance of the animals described, the musky odour which recurs in so many of the accounts the parrot-like beak, and the baleful eye. all coint tq one conclusion^