Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1849-03-22
Original 5fltsrileup,
The Great Sea SrrRent,


late number of the Westninste Review con.
tains, upon this subject, long, lgieresting, and
very able article: in the shape oR sfesiew of the
treatises of sundry learned savans endeRvoring,
in their overweening contempt "a Al authori-
ties drawn from sea men, or any offers save pro.
fessed natnralists, to show the al "a IN ques.
ton to be entirely fabulous. Thg yFriter addu. J.
ces a chain of evidence, extendae beck more
than hundred years, all of Whit y Of sucha
character as to have led him, as.U confess it has
us, to the irresistible conclusiop The exist
.ence of the Groat Sea sefpep lohsav
be considered matter of doubt; hu. that this
modern leviathan should now be slowed to take
an undisputed place in natural history among
the rare and wonderful animals, With which the
Almighty has seen fit to diversity his creations.
Our space will not permit us y quote but
small portion Of this chain of testimony, but we
will proceed to give some of its prominent links,
with portion of the writer's conclusion.
The first witness cited is the Rev. Mr. Egede,
man of unquestoned truth and plety, and
withal close and accurate observer of nature.
as was evinced in the minute Jounal he kent of
all he saw IN the Greenland mission in which he
was engaged:-
son the 9TH of July, 1874, there appeared a
very large and frightful sea monster, which
raised itself so high out of the water, that its
head reached above our main top. 1t had long
sharp snout, and spouted water like whale
and had broad happers. The body seemed to
be covered with scales, and the ska was uneven
and wrinkled, and the lower part was formed
like snake. After some time, the creature
plunged backwards into the water, and then
turned its tail up above the surface, whole
ship-Iength from the head. The following eve.
ming we had very bad weather"
The next piece of evidence is from the " Nat
ural History of Norway" by Pontoppidan, the
bishop of Bergen and member of the Royal
Academy Of Sciences, who, in the work above
named, has collected vast amount Of testimony,
and given drawing of the animal, which cor
responds with the one seenby Egode, and mainly
with that seen Oh the American coast And, in
this connection an extract is given from the Brit
ish Zoolgist, taken from communication from
more modern scientific traveerlor whose au-
thority the, editor of that work appears to vouch
The extract is as follows:
I" AS some interest has been exCitedbv the al
lodged appearance ola sea,seAep,. A venture
to transmit few remarks on the suH8ct, which
you may or may not think worthy insertion
in your columns. There does not appar to be a
single ell.authenticated instance of aese mon
sters having been seen in any soutern latitu-
des; but in the north of Europe, nogithstand.
ing the fabulous character so long scrbed to
Pontoppdan'S description, am conJnced that
they both exist and are frequently sell. Du-
ring three summers spent i'll Norway, have re-
peatedly conversed with the natives on this sub.
ject. A parish priest residing on Romalal lord
about two days's journey south Of Dronthem, an
intelligent person, whose veracity have no rea.
son to doubt, gave me circumstania account
of one which he had himself seen. 1t rose
within thirty yards of the boat in which he was
and swan parallel with it for considerable
time. Its head is described as equalling small
casll in size, and its mouth, which it repeatedly
opened and shut, was furnished with formidable
teeth; its neck was smaller but its body-ot
which he supposed that he saw about half on the
surface of the WATERWAYS not less in girth than
that of moderate sized horse. Another gen
tleman, in whose house i stayed, had also seer
one, and gave similar account Of it; it also
came near his boat upon the ford, when it was
fired at, upon which it turned and pursued then
to the shore, which was luckily near, when i
disappeared. They expressed great surprise a
the general disbelief attaching to the existence
Of these animals amongst natu:ssts, and as
sured me that there was scarcely sailor accus
toned to those inland lakes, who had not seer
them at one time or another. Zeoigist D
DBL"
The last quotation we shall give is the ac
count of Capt. Sullivan and four other EngsI
naval officers, who went out on fishing cxcur
sion from Halifax on the 18th of May, 1888
many years before the much disputed Nahan
, Ser Serpent was ever heard Of The AMOUNT i
attested by all five of these officers, and was pub
, lished in the "Zoologist," near the tine the in
cident occurred, with voucher for is autben
ITCHY. After infinitely describing the progress
of their excursion, their amuselnents injshOotin
grampuses &c. the narrator says, startled b
an exclamation from our man of Wars man, W
, turned and saw an object which banished a
| other thoughts save wonder and SURPRISE
, cat the distance of from $50 to 200 yards o
t our starboard bow, we saw the head aud nee
, Of some denizen of the deep, precisely lIk
? those of a common snake, in the act Of swim
: ming, the head SO far elevated and thtSwn fo
WuTu ny liLG curve VI luC uCIh uo w SA"Dlt I
to see the water under and beyond it The ere,
. ture rapidly passed, leaving regular wake, fro
= the commencement of which to the lore par
q which was out Of water, we Judged its length
s be about eighty feet; and this is within, rattle
s than beyond the mark. We were, otl cours
e all taken back at the sight, and with starn
eyes and in speeches. wonder stood gazing
: it for full half minute there could beno mi
It take, no deluson, and we were all perfectly sa
isfed that we had been favored with view
the true and veritable sea-serpent," which hi
been generally considered to have existed only
the brain of some Yankee skipper, and treated as
y tale not much entitled to belief. Dowling's e
I clamation is worthy of record. "WoR, T.
n sailed in all parts of the world, and have Sc,
. some sights too in my time, but this is the quee
e est thing ever sec" -and surely Jack DOwlil