Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-12-12
POFlING FUN AT TIE SEA SER.
PENE.
Give the Snake a Show.

To the Editor of HE EVENING STAR:
For the past few days have read daily but
two newspapers. One was THE STAR. and the
other one headed the report of the Long Branch
sea serpent thus: Gle Should Water His Apple
Jack" / infer from what they have done on
former occasions that most of the papers dis
pose of the matter in a similar way. 1t is well
for paper to be as funny as it can, and do
not object on my own account to any fun they
may make of the sea serpent; but is it fair to
the serpent? Is it not time to give the snake a
show?
In most things I am not an over credulous
person. Though it has been my business for
twenty years to sift all kinds of testimony from
all kinds of people, and to find all the lies can
in what they say became, dozen years ago,
as thoroughly convinced that the sea-serpent
was reality as am that the white elephant is.
l reached the conviction by the process that
should lead a reasonable man to any concu-
siOn-by serious instead OF facetiOuS con-
sideration of the evidence.
The existence of the creature is intrinSically
as probable as that of the giant squid and other
nOndescripts that we know from the great deep.
1t is poor logic to doubt a thing because it is so
probable that people are likely to imagine it..
The sea-serpent would stand better chance in
the minds of some if he were not so probable, if
he were altogether mOnstrOuS, impossible, hope
essly at variance with all our ideas of animal
forms. There is sufficient similarity in the de-
scriptiOns we have of him. Most OF them differ
scarcely more than one whale differs from
another-scarcely more than snakes differ on
the land.
The stories of other monsters have passed
naturally away. But the light that science and
exact records bring has not been able to rele-
gate the sea serpent to the limbo of chimeras
and dragons. 1t is in the age when everything
fabulous has to 90 that he holds his own. Ac-
counts of him have kept on coming from differ
ent quarters OF the sea. under all circumstances
from scores Of witnesses. and from men whose
credibilty could not be questioned on any other
point. They are not all reporters from American
watering places. They are not all fishermen.
There Is testimony enough. 1t Is good enough
1t agrees well enough. 1t tells what is probable
enough. And it would convince the world of
anything else than a sea serpent.
Now comes the reputable STAR; it speaks by
the record; it gives what an officer OF the gov
ernment reports. In an official paper, to his
superior; he emphasizes the fact as strongly as
words can do it, for he knows he may be
we have had Just as good before And still the
man who mentions the creature is advised to
water his appejack.
The captain of II. NJ. s. Daedalus, in 1s4S
reported to the admiralty his encounter with a
sea-serpent off the coast of Africa. 1t was sixty
feet long. 1t passed SO close to the ship that
had it been human acquaintance the captain
would have recognized his features with the
naked eye. His lieutenant corroborated him.
making a separate statement on his own
responsibility, and compiling it from the
log-book of the vessel. Their statements
differed only in description Of the mon
ster, where differences might be ex-
pected, for the serpent was swimming fourteen
miles an hour and in rough water. In 1877 the
captain and officers Of Her Majesty's yacht the
Osborne, forwarded to the admiralty their official
report of sea serpent which they saw off Sicily
Its length was estimated at $50 feet. 1t moved
slowly in smooth water and sketch of it by
one of the leutenants accompanied the report.
These cases are mentioned among the great
Could these English officers put such stories as
these into the archives OF their country if they
were not substantially true? If they are not to
be believed, in their man points, what Is the
use of believing anything. Good reasons are
obvious why these fearful snaky monsters could
not be brought home by their discoveries for the
inspection of landlubbers. There is good au-
thority that one. 55 feet long. was washed ashore
on the Orkney Islands in 1903. JUSTICE.