A SEA SERPENT?

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 133, 8 June 1939, Page 12

A SEA SERPENT?

IN-.TASMAN BAY

LAUNCH WITHIN 40 FEET

While not asserting that What they saw was a warrantable sea serpent, Mr. H. C. Christian, of Te Rawa, iPelorus Sound, and two companions, [ are definite that last week they saw something in Tasman Bay distinctly unusual and deserving the name sea serpent until the contrary is proved. Mr. Christian has described the experience in a letter to "The Post" in these words: — "On Friday last at 1 p.m. I was passing Pippins Island, fourteen miles from Nelson, en route to French Pass, in my launch Te Rawa with my sister-in-law and a young native workman, when we saw what appeared to be a branch of a tree sticking out of the water. It had somewhat of a swan-like shape and appeared to be 8 or 9ft long and eel-shaped. As we got closer to the object, we found that it was alive and turned its head towards the launch, when all three of us made an exclamation to that effect. We noticed its tail, which protruded from the water about three feet, curved back towards the centre of the fish, and was split or comb-shaped at the edges. The head, somewhat like that of'an eel, but rather of the appearance of a dog's head, with hair on its top, was three feet out of the water. ' "The most peculiar feature was that when we saw it, it appeared to be quite still, although fully two-thirds of the fish was out of the water, and it remained in that position until I turned the launch towards it, and we got within about forty feet, when it submerged. . "I have been 35 years in this territory and have seen nothing like it, nor have the others."

The existence of sea serpents has often been discussed, and there have been some celebrated reports of their appearance. In June, 1808, Mr. Maclean, parish minister on the island of Eigg, reported seeing one "at a great distance," which he believed to be 70 or 80 feet long. Between 1815 and 1823 many reports of sea serpents were received, principally from Gloucester and Nahant, in New England. /On August 14, .1815, one "was approached by a boat within 30 feet" at Gloucester, and the serpent turned towards it, "as if meditating attack," but sank down and reappeared some distance away. On August 19, 1818, Mr. Samuel Cabot was starting from Nahant for Boston when he noticed that the beach was crowded with people all looking at something about 100 yards away. Its head was two feet from the water and it was moving along in a series of "bunches" of varied size. A few days earlier a Mr. Tom Prince recorded a similar phenomenon. A little later there is the evidence of the crew of the sloop Concord which was cruising in the same waters and saw a serpent "of enormous magnitude." In 1820 it was observed off Swampcott. In 1833 and 1849 there were similar tales. The next report was the celebrated affair of the warship Daedalus, a full account of which was published in the "Illustrated London News" on October 28, 1848. Captain McQuhae also sent a report to the Admiralty. The serpent, which was seen off the African coast, was a huge animal, with its head and shoulders four feet above the surface. Behind the head its diameter was about 16 inches. It had no fins, but a mane, and was dark brown in colour. The mate of the Daphne, an American brig, told much the same story. In December, 1848, however, Captain Smith, of the Peking, reported finding an enormous mass of seaweed, encrusted with marine parasites, whose roots had been mistaken for an animal's head when they first saw it. This was only 40 miles from the scene of the other encounter. On December 7, 1905, two Fellows of the Zoological Society, Messrs. Meade Waldo and Michael J. Nicholl, reported seeing one from the poop of the Valhalla, off the coast of Brazil. It was brown, the neck, "about as thick as a slight man's body," rose eight feet out of the water, and underneath there was "the shadow of a considerable body." The head resembled that of a turtle.