Sea-Serpent Swallowing Sailors.
From the records of the Swedish bishop-explorer, Olaus Magnus.
Courtesy of Illustrated London News.
The Most Authentic Sea-Serpent.
This drawing was made on the British man-o’-war Daedalus, and the
captain and officers, men of high naval rank and standing, signed
an official statement that the creature closely resembled this
drawing, made at the time. The monster was observed
for more than twenty minutes and came close to
the vessel. Science has never been able to
explain this sea-serpent, and it is still
one of the mysteries of the ocean.
“What on earth can that have been?” queried Perry, in surprise. “It sounds almost real, somehow!”
“It was real enough,” was the reply. “There’s no doubt of that. The only question is: What was it that they saw? The sketch—I copied it in my book, here it is—shows that it wasn’t a serpent. The captain thought it was a serpent, because it was long and thin. A worm is long and thin, but it isn’t a serpent; an eel is long and thin, but it isn’t a serpent; and a ribbon-fish may be fifty or sixty feet long, but it’s not in the least like a snake. Look at the head in the sketch, Perry, and you’ll see that it isn’t like a snake’s head, at all.”
Perry took the note-book and looked at the drawing with the intensest interest.