Thank you for visiting SNEWPapers!
Sign up free
Story
August 19, 1859
Winchester Republican
Winchester, Virginia
What is this article about?
The Yarmouth Register reports a famed sea serpent visiting the port was chased into a creek and caught, revealed as an 8-foot, 816-pound horse mackerel. Fishermen note its movement creates a wave resembling a serpent, explaining the myth.
Clipping
OCR Quality
98%
Excellent
Full Text
THE SEA SERPENT CAUGHT
The Yarmouth Register says that the far-famed Sea Serpent has lately visited that port, and was chased up a narrow creek and caught. He turned out to be a Horse Mackerel, measuring over eight feet in length and weighing 816 pounds. The Register says:
"It is the opinion of experienced fishermen that this is the fish which has given rise to the belief in a sea serpent. When it is running at its ordinary speed in search of prey, it moves just under the surface of the water, producing a wave which rises up in a series of corrugations for about one hundred feet in a straight line, before it falls off into the ordinary spreading wake produced by a body moving through the water. This appearance in moderate weather so closely resembles that of a huge serpent moving over the surface of the water that it is difficult, even to those accustomed to the appearance, to realize that it is nothing but a wave, and it is not strange that, when seen for the first time, it should strike the beholder with terror."
The Yarmouth Register says that the far-famed Sea Serpent has lately visited that port, and was chased up a narrow creek and caught. He turned out to be a Horse Mackerel, measuring over eight feet in length and weighing 816 pounds. The Register says:
"It is the opinion of experienced fishermen that this is the fish which has given rise to the belief in a sea serpent. When it is running at its ordinary speed in search of prey, it moves just under the surface of the water, producing a wave which rises up in a series of corrugations for about one hundred feet in a straight line, before it falls off into the ordinary spreading wake produced by a body moving through the water. This appearance in moderate weather so closely resembles that of a huge serpent moving over the surface of the water that it is difficult, even to those accustomed to the appearance, to realize that it is nothing but a wave, and it is not strange that, when seen for the first time, it should strike the beholder with terror."
What sub-type of article is it?
Curiosity
Extraordinary Event
Animal Story
What themes does it cover?
Nature
Deception
What keywords are associated?
Sea Serpent
Horse Mackerel
Yarmouth
Wave Illusion
Fishermen Opinion
Where did it happen?
Yarmouth Port, Narrow Creek
Story Details
Location
Yarmouth Port, Narrow Creek
Event Date
Lately
Story Details
The sea serpent is chased up a creek in Yarmouth and caught, turning out to be a horse mackerel over eight feet long and weighing 816 pounds. Experienced fishermen opine that its movement under the water surface creates a wave resembling a huge serpent, giving rise to the belief in sea serpents.