THE SEA SERPENT A REALITY! (BY TELEGRAPH.) Wellington. August 3.

North Otago Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 7203, 4 August 1891, Page 2

THE SEA SERPENT A REALITY ! (BY TELEGRAPH .) Wellington. August 3.

When the Rotomaluna was off Portland light, bntvreen Gisborne and Napier, on Saturday morning, what is supposed to bo an immense sea monster was sighted. The chiof officer was on th« bridge at the time, and his attention was oallofl to tho animal by the quartermaster, who was looking out of the door leading to the whitl room. A h««ry ««a wa« running at

the time, mid the quartermaster state* that ho first noticed a long dark-looking % object nun slowly ftom the water about half a mile from tho Teasel, until it reached n height of thirty or forty feet. It then slowly disappeared, and, when it next appeared, it wuh much olosor to tho ship. The quartermaster saw the Borpont rise four or fivo times boforo he drew the chief oflicer'R attention to it, and they both eaw it rise perpendicularly out of the wnttr to a great height within a hundred yards of the vessel. After withdrawing into tho water for a time it was seen again. Both men who Raw it state that it could not have been less than a hundred t feet long. On arriving hero the chief officer hoard that an earthquake was felt at Napier on Saturday morning at 6 30, which was about the time they saw the serpent, and he now thinks that it was £ some disturbance At tho bottom of the sea which caused the animal to come to (he aurfnee. The quartermaster of the steamer Rotomahana statoB that tho soa serpent had a good sized hoad, and bliowed two tins something like wings, each aboub ten feet long. Tts buck was black, tho color of tho belly being pure whito, and each time it disappeared » distinct splash was noticeable.