Daily Kennebec journal., 1901-12-02
The Sea Serpent Again.

/
early summer when the landlords OF
the hotels along the New. England
shores are opening their hospitablc
doors v.e. acct a crop of sea- ser
pen, warns, and we nave never been
diseppointt.i except in the early sum
m.r of jsqS when the phantom Span
ish fleet frightened the sea serpents To
thrr waters and the shore dWeliars
bach: among fhc hills. But in ordinary
times Of ;,race the sea serpent and
The sea serpent joke are as much 4
part of The summer resort season as
| Thanksgivin ing and the turkey joke are
a Dart of our New England November.
tunnal sea serpent stories, not told by
| crterpyisine landlords or coastwis"
CORRESPONDENTS OF fishermen frightened
in frorn their travis. They come
from o.h"r waters than those which
| lave New Englands rccks and beach
es. and Uncle Sam himself becomes
official sponsor for the mysterious
monste, Of the deep. The photographic
bureau OF the navy department has
issued report on the recent appear
arr.s Of the sea serpent in the Gulf of
Mexico and it makes a very interest
| ING document No less 4 naturalist
than David Starr Jordan says that
| tn,. existence of Il giant sea serpent is
| entirely a question of fact; there is
! nothing improbable in the persistence
| oc me2ozoc saurian species of enor-
nous size but at the same time most
Of the sea serpent stories, leaving out
| those obviously fraudulent. are either
| due t. a careless eXaggeration OF we'll
| known sea animals. mammals and
fishes. or are based on the appearance
OF it'll. known marine species of
| Snal<clik" characteristics. The latest
| account Of tho latest monster comes
| from the officers of til. steamship
| Irada who report that on October 20
when about 200 miles south of New
| Orleans. bound from Galveston to
| Liverpool they passed large sea
serpent appearing about 100 feet long.
The head had a blunt. square nose and
| was ejeCting water to the height Of two
| or three feet from it's nostrils. The
an nal or fish had three distinct sets
of Tins and a tail lying across like Il
| porpuise. On its back was a series
o. humps like camel. 1t was heading
about cast and moving slowly"
! In certain particulars the Irada's sea
serpent is unlike the description Of
sea serpents reported by othcr trust;
worthy observers. and Yet i. is no
| unlike the ssa. serpent said t. hal
been seen by captain Hassol. of the
barquc st Olaf OF May I3, ls71. III
| when he was two day. OFT from
| Galveston on his way from Newport.
According to the report Captain Has
| sells sea serpent was lying on the sur
face, had four fins. seemed To be- about
Sc entv feet long, about six feet in
diameter and was of a greenish-yellow
| color With brown spots over the upper
part Of it. These two are the only
monsters recently reported in the
Gulf. but the Atlantic ocean has been
credited with them from the early
| day. Of ravigitiCn. The most t,2-
mediat4ly interesting Atlantic sea ser
rent, perhaps. was that seen from the
! hcmeward- bound liner New England
on July 26. 1899. just two days out
from Boston. by the ships officers and
til" passengers. among the latter be
ing Mr.. and Mrs. James X. Hackett
and Rev. Father Deming. of New
| York. Mr.. Hackett had Il good
view Of the monster when it was less
than a hundred feet from the vessel.
| Il spnuted water lik" a whale. but its
appearance was far from whalelike.
| Mr.. Hackctts description running as
follows:
What | saw was evidently the
| back. which was about five feet wide
| and twenty feet long, and projected
| several feet cut of the water. Along
| the spine We're a row Of deep indenta-
tions. such as YOU may see on the
| backs Of some lizards and similar
to the corrugations along the back Of
a crocodile. The back was q glossy
| black, but uEder the water could
| catch glimpse Of its white belly The
| head was below the surface of the
| water, but it$ outline appeared tp re-
| sembl" that "f "A long snout. like an
| alligator s. The body tapercd aft into
a tail With which the creature ap-
| p.ared to steer. | estimated the. total
| length at about fifty feet Mrs
Hackett. who climbed into one of the
poats 10 get a closer view. saw the
| animal raise its head for a moment