1857. One described by Captain Harrison, and considered trustworthy evidence.
1875. One seen from the Pauline, July 8, in lat. 5° 30´ S., long. 35° W. Also on July 13, ‘a similar serpent’ seen from the same barque Pauline.
1875. September 11. ‘An enormous marine salamander’ in the Straits of Malacca, seen from the Nestor.
1877. Large marine animal seen from the royal yacht Osborne off Sicily.
1879. Colonel Leathes, of Herring Fleet Hall, Yarmouth, informs Mr. F. Buckland of sea serpents seen from the White Adder off Aden, and again off New Guinea and the Cape. (See Land and Water, Sept. 6, 1879.)
In the above list we are struck by the fact that the coast of Norway and the northern seas during the hottest weather are the favourite playgrounds of these gigantic marine animals, though as for the ‘600’ feet, we must first be assured of Norwegian measurement before forming any estimate beyond that the creatures were doubtless of great length. ‘Witnesses of unimpeachable character’ have produced so much trustworthy evidence as far as Norway is concerned, that no doubt any longer exists there as to ‘the’ or a ‘marine animal’ of enormous length. ‘There is scarcely a sailor who has not seen one,’ it has been broadly stated; and Norwegians wonder that English naturalists are so sceptical on the subject.
Of still more marvellous proportions was the one seen off the American coast in 1819, and which is vaguely described as from 80 to 250 yards! That outdoes Norway altogether; but then, of course, an American sea serpent would exceed all others.
Next to the Norwegian, the American coast was at one time so favoured by strange marine ‘monsters,’ that they were commonly reported as ‘the American sea serpent.’ Excepting these northern Atlantic visitants, others have been observed mostly in the eastern seas, rarely in the south.
This has given rise to the question, ‘How is it that they are seen almost exclusively in the north?’ One reason may be that there are more persons to see them, and because marine traffic is far greater in the north than in similar southern latitudes; and another reason may be, that the rocky coasts of both continents in those latitudes may afford congenial retreats for mammoth marine reptiles. We have seen that reptiles exist for a very long period without breathing, and even without air; as, for instance, those encased in baked mud in the tropics, and those frozen up or bottled up tight and hermetically sealed, as the examples given in preceding chapters.