Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-04-19
SAYS THEY EXIST.
Sea Serpents Officially Recognized by tn
German Empire,

sea Serpen1s Ofhclally Recognized by the
German Empire.
A great European government has at
last taken official notice of the sea SER
pent. This monster of the deep has
formed the subject of prolonged inves-
tigation by an eminent naval officer, who,
at the instigation and under the pay of
the German government, has devoted the
past year and a half to Investigating the
subject.
He Is Commander George Wislicenus
of the German navy, and he is now re-
siding at Hamburg. When commissioned
by the German government to investigate
the sea serpent this eminent officer of the
imperial navy was empowered to look
through all the official documents in the
governments possession.
Commander Wislcenus has boldly put
forth the statement that the sea serpent
Is not a myth. The sea serpent exists
In the ocean today, not as single de-
scendant of prehistoric monsters, but
there are thousands of them. The Ger
man government has Endorsed his sea
serpent as a living entity.
The records of the admiralty, hitherto
sealed to such investigators, were placed
at his disposal. He was likewise en-
powered to go through the archives of all
the universities, to interrogate scientific
dulHOfltleS, 10 question sea captains anu
to collate such veracious facts as bore
upon the subject.
He was especially directed to use the
utmost care in his acceptance of stories
of sea serpents. He was also to pay par
ticular attention to the official records
of the German navy upon the subject.
The result of all this work, which the
commander appears to have undertaken
and carried on in the most painstaking
manner, is voluminous report which
has has Just been printed by the German
government. The fact that the report
has been printed and is now about to be
circulated by the imperial government
shows that full Endorsement is given to
the statements of the commander. He is
to be paid for his laborious work, and all
the expenses of his unique quest are to be
betrayed out of the imperial treasury.
The commander says in his report that
I there is no doubt that there are thou
sands of sea Serpents alive in the oceans
of the world at the present time. He
makes the positive statement that, in
stead of being extinct, as many scientific
men were led to believe, the sea serpent
family is well represented in the animal
kingdom at the present time.
But right here are some of the most sig
nificant and interesting statements which
the commander had to make upon the
subject. He says that the long investiga-
ton which he has made has convinced
him that it is q mistake to suppose that
sea. serpents wander about indifferently
in all the oceans of the world.
On the contrary. he says, there are GER
tain seas that are free from these mon
sters, and where they may be looked for
in vain. On the other hand, says Com
mander Wislicenus, there are certain
parts of the ocean much frequented by
sea serpents.
Beh ing sea is, says I1e their stamping
ground-a statement that may well give
pause to the United States government in
its effort to secure control of that water
Just as whales VIGOROUSLY frequent GER
tain spots in the ocean and keep away
from others, so the sea serpent has his
haunts, and If he is to be chased ntelli-
gently he must there be looked for
singular coincidence is here remark
ed by the German naval officer, who
makes statements about the sea serpent
even more extraordinary than any hfth-
erto recorded He says that whales and
sea serpents are to be found in the same
places. That is the reason there are so
many in the Behring sea, which is thick
with whales.
He then goes on to say that sea SER
penis feed on whales. This amazing
statement the German naval officer does
not make as a result of any process of
logical thought but he fortifies 1t with
official records taken from the logs of
warships and the affidavts of their naval
commanders which have previously been
hidden from the world.
1t will thus be seen that Commander
Wislicenus makes no concealment of his
belief in the existence of the sea serpent,
although he takes pains to say in the out
set of his report that when beginning the
work for the German government he was
very skeptical on the subject. The book
embraces many illustrations which the
commander secured, in many instances
from eve witnesses