NATURAL HISTORY NOTES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23859, 13 July 1939, Page 14

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES

Written for the Otago Daily Times. By David H. Graham THE SEA SERPENT The different species of sea snakes are well known and have been classified, but ideas about sea serpents are much vaguer, in spite of its colossal size, and it is mainly on this latter point that the many stories told in connection with this elusive creature reach a point of agreement. Every now and again there is a wave of frivolity which fortunately comes to most of us, may I be permitted therefore to poke fun at the sea serpent, and in such a mood the author might be permitted to compound a recipe for it, in the best manner of Mrs Beeton. as follows: —

Ingredients: A, giraffe’s neck; the girth of a large shark or whale; of a deep sea squid, two eyes large and bright. The head of a large reptile of lineage at least several million years. The sinuous body of an eel of huge dimensions. The tail of a crocodile and several scales, taken preferably while asleep. The back fin of a swordfish. Mode: Fix the head cm to the giraffe’s neck, which is attached to the eel; stuff well with sea “sawdust" making sure to be liberal as the “ stuffing” is one of the main ingredients to make it digestible. Mix the whole at a distance of at least one mile; view through the wrong end of a telescope from a fast-moving vessel. To be taken with a grain of salt after numerous cocktails. Seasonable at any time after drinks. . . The existence of the sea'serpent has been known to generations of man, but although it still shows vitality by appearing at different seasons of the year, the examination of even the most probable stories concerning it leave one with the pleasant feeling that there is still further knowledge to be gained before it can be classified. So manyhave been “found out” that anyone with a story nowadays is generally placed under suspicion. It is not necessary, of course, fo believe that all people who say they have seen a sea serpent actually did see one, but many who have told of it saw something, at any rate, that looked very much like the creature. Therefore, they described it in good faith, only expecting! of their listeners a belief which they had already assured themselves. . From time Immemorial huge animals have been reported as seen by more or less staid persons gifted with powers of observation. The clumsy gambols have been vividly described at length; the great size of the creature has been dwelt upon. The species to which it might belong have been given material for argument. The terrors and alarms of the observers have evoked much sympathy. There are numerous substantiated accounts, of various sea monsters of prodigious size, but in each instance the sea monster differs from any known water or land animal. . . , , Master mariners, crews, ministers of the Gospel and other respectable observers all vow that their eyes have not been deceived, and that they themselves were in a state oi sobriety when the monster came into view. Just whether their observing faculties have been mistaken, or whether some unduly large living form has really been seen, that is the question, bo many reports have been made that the evidence demands at least careful examination. Modern research has made it certain that the sea serpents of Aristotle and Pliny were merely eels of gigantic proportions. So many stories have been disproved that any story of a sea serpent is viewed with extreme caution. May I add that fish stories are proverbial, and that human nature is prone to exaggeration, which can be verified by anyone listening to an angler’s tale of “the fish that got away.” In these two facts lies the keinel of most sea serpents stories. At the beginning of last century a famous sea serpent came ashore on, the urlc " neys. Its measurements m length were solemnly sworn by three observers to be over 50 feet, and anatomica* details were given at great length to prove it was a veritable sea serpent. An expert went and examined the remains, which proved to be a species of huge ribbon fish and 20 feet, less than the original dimensions. Then the Bishop, of Bergan dealt with a sea serpent which lived in the Norwegian Sea. He called the creature Kraaken, but we now know it to have been a very large squid. The bishop s scription of the serpent is typical of many such observations: In general the body is as large as two hogsheads, either a flat or pointed snout. The eyes were as and bright as two pewter plates, and. although the serpent does not spout like a whale, it is able to put the water into confusion. From this summary, the bishops sea serpent has been translated into a giant squid We know that enormous squid and cuttlefish come ashore the arms of which measure 30 feet m length and total length of over 50 feet and the eyes of which are great globes 15 inches in diameter. Hans Egede, described in detail a sea monster which was sighted, and the drawing accompanying his work, if it were absolutely trustworthy, would prove that he had the good fortune to see the great sea serpent rearing its head out of the water and snorting vapour into the air. The drawing was' an honest attempt to portray what had been seen, but again I must sadly say, Your serpent was merelv a squid. Squids have a habit of moving close to the surface. and. since they are able to swim backwards by means fo the siphon, and a* they usually stick the tail end out of the water almost vertically, it was probably a squid that Hans saw swimming ’ backwards. The writhing tail of the sea serpent would probably be one of the tentacles breaking, water. If the squid had urged itself above the arurfara violently, the siphon would

naturally squirt water into the air, and in the flurry of the animal’s movements the jet of water might seem to come from some other part of the body. A sea serpent was seen in the year 1848, supposed to measure exactly 44 feet in length, twice the thickness of a common snnke, front of the head pointed, the eyes sharp, and a mane commencing from the back of the neck. Colour block, and swims like a leech. Another was sighted off Halifax with a long neck surmounted by the head of a dragon. In 1905 a sea serpent with the head of a turtle on an eel-like neck 6ft long, a dorsal fin 4ft in length and 2ft high, the whole resembling a piece of trailing seaweed. No mention was made as to the number of rums consumed by the observer. Some journals depict animals enveloping a vessel with their body and with dragon-like mouth open to devour the crew. On August 1. 1891, a quartermaster of the s.s. Rotomahana saw a sea serpent while off Portland-Island, with a head like an eel, fins 10ft long situated on either side of the body, which were 20ft behind the snout, and at times rose 30ft out of the water. I have condensed the very prolix report, and I believe that from the observations, he had seen the “breeching” of a humpbacked whale gambolling on the sea surface.

Any attempt to show that the tellers of sea serpent stories are untruthful only seems to arouse animosity, but the great sea serpent, descriptions of which appear in almost every language of civilised countries, has unfortunately not yet copie under the observations of scientific dictum, and it is feared that the majority of these records are to be put down to veracious seamen’s yarns, perhaps aided by strange tricks- of memory, perhaps by alcohol, purely some remains from monsters of such huge dimensions must be found, for they come to the surface and could not fail to have deposited relics of themselves on some shore or other. Only one joint or a vertebra would be sufficient for a scientist to have established the. sea serpent’s identification scientifically. But that illuminating fragment has never been forthcoming.