The Sun.
London, England, 1850-09-07 00:00:00

THE SEA SERPENT AGAIN.

DUBLIN, FRIDAY.
The sea serpent has left another visiting card with
Mr. It9ger IV. Travers, the owner of the yacht Alice.
Oa this occasion the monster behaved with exceeding
politetFss; having afforded Mr. Travers an opprtu-
nity of inspecting him from the crown of the head to
the tip of the tail. The following is Mr. Travers's
account of the interview, as published in the Corh
Constitution :

" On Saturday last, the weather having the appear-
ance of being sevled fine, I put out to sea, determined,
as far as the capabilities of my little craft would per-
mit, to go any lengths in finding out the position of
the stranger, hoping by keeping a constant look out
in every direction to discover him. Nor was I dis-
appointed, the animal, lured no doubt by the dense
masses of fish now off the coast, having remained within
a comparatively short distance of the land. At about
eleven o'clock A.M., when off Dunworley Head, one of
my crew on the look out sung out ' the sea serpent
on starboard bow,' and on looking in the direction in-
dicated I had the pleasure of at once recognisihg the
same monster that I had before seen, and greatly do I
regret indeed that you, or some party conversant with
natural history, were not on board with me. We drew
as close as I thought consistent with safety, and had
ample proof of the creature being piscivorous, he being
at the time engaged in bolting a number of large batik
or conger eels. I had now for the first time a view of
his tail, which entirely differs from the usual form of
th it extremity in most descriptions of fish, being fur-
nished with no fin, but somewhat resembling a huge
elephant's trunk, or proboscis, the end long drawn
out, and curling and twisting in a very remarkable
manner. I really feel afraid to hazard expressing in
figures what I judge to be the dimensions of the ani-
mal, but I do believe that if it were stretched straight
from head to tail that it would be rather over than
under thirty fathoms long, and of that length I am
satisfied fully half is seven feet in diameter. The
mouth is a most capacious organ, and opens something
like that of an alligator. The small size of the gills
—for I could discern nothing like the blowing holes
of a whale, rather surprised me. The nose I think
is formed of a soft flesh-like substance, not bony—
and from the broken condition of the external coat of
scales, I am satisfied, as before observed, that the
beast is now in its " coating" state. After a little
time it appeared evident that he bad fallen asleep, as
we could perceive him rapidly drifting on the shore,
at the east side of Dunworley Head; and -I
once more, although I now feel with more rashness
than discretion, resolved to try the effect of fire-arms
in capturing him. Four rifles were prepared, brought
simultaneously to bear on the animal's head, and
giving the word myself and directing all to aim for
the eye turned towards us, bang went the pieces in a
volley, the shots taking evident effect. His first
movement was to shake his head and wink the
wounded eye in a rapid manner, and then, as if to
cool the painful wound, he suddenly dived, since when
I havult had the slightest trace of him, either by my
own observation or through others."
The Cork Constitution, referring to the foregoing,
says—
" Since the above letter was received the following
information on the same subject came to hand :
Monday last a party of gentlemen belonging to this
city were enjoying a sailing excursion, in the Ante-
lope yacht, belonging to Mr. Wheeler, along the
coast from Glandore to Kinsale. Passing the Old
Head of Kinsale, the day unusually fine, they ob-
served an extraordinary commotion of the sea, ap.
parent to every one on board. The bay of Kinsale
was at the time filled with &h. In a few moments
they perceived a large serpent-like fish on the
surface, that could not b 3 less than 120 feet
in length. In shape it resembled a long funnel
of an immense steamer. Unfortunately they were
not sufficiently near the monster to give
a description of the head and body. After lying on
the surface for a few minutes it suddenly dashed
ahead with a velocity, as far as could be seen for a
distance of two miles, of at least sixty miles an hour.
It then disappeared. It was believed that the sea
serpent must have been in pursuit of the shoals of
fish that thronged the bay. It is a singular circum-
stance, that notwithstanding the unusual quantity of
fish that was observable, the Kinsale hookers were
most unsuccessful, as it was stated they did not ob-
tain a single take during the evening. Toe gentle-
men who have witnessed the visit of this monster, and
whose statement is detailed above, may be relied on
as above all suspicion."