|
Captain Peter M'Quhae and most of the officers and crew of H.M.S. Daedalus were treated to the sight of:
"a sea-serpent of extraordinary dimensions"
while on passage from the East Indies to Plymouth, England, in 1848. In a detailed,
matter-of-fact statement dated October 11, Captain M'Quhae advised the lords of
the admiralty that at 5 p.m. on
August 6-the Daedalus then being in the South Atlantic 300 miles oft the
western coast of Africa-"something very unusual was seen by Mr. Sartons,
midshipman, rapidly approaching the ship from before the beam."
Mr. Sartons immediately reported the circumstance to
Captain M Quhae and two officers walking the quarterdeck. What they and several
other incredulous viewers saw was an enormous, undulating, snakelikc thing
"with head and shoulders kept about four feet constantly above the surface
of the sea." As nearly as the men could judge by making a comparison with
the length of their main topsail yard, the serpent's visible length was a good
60 feet; its diameter behind the head was 15 or 16 inches, and there seemed to
be some kind of mane down the creature's back.
Maintaining its course to
the southwest at a pace of 12 to 15 miles per hour, the creature passed the Daedalus
rapidly but, stated M'Quhac, "so close under our quarter, that had it
been a man of my acquaintance, I should easily have recognized his features
with the naked eye."
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed