Edwardsville Spectator

THE SEA SERPENT.

BOSTON, AUG. 19, 1819.

The recent appearance of this animal at Nahant, in the view of several hundreds of persons, has furnished, perhaps, more conclusive proofs of his existence, than any that have been before made public. For the satisfaction of our readers, we have procured a copy of the following letter, which gives a very clear and interesting description of his appearance and movements. We have heard verbal statements from a great number of gentlemen, all of which agree in substance with what is here related.

Copy of a letter from James Prince, Esq. Marshal of this District, to the Hon. Judge Davis, dated Nahant, August 16, 1819.

'My Dear Sir—I presume I may have seen what is generally thought to be the Sea Serpent. I have also seen my name inserted in the evening newspapers printed at Boston on Saturday, in a communication on this subject. For your gratification, and a desire that my name may not sanction any thing beyond what actually presented and passed in review before me, I will now state that which, in the presence of more than two hundred other witnesses, took place near the long beach of Nahant, on Saturday morning last.

Intending to pass two or three days with my family at Nahant, we left Boston early on Saturday morning: On passing the halfway house, on the Salem turnpike, Mr. Smith informed us, the Sea Serpent had been seen the evening before at Nahant Beach, and that a vast number of people from Lynn had gone to the beach that morning, in hopes of being gratified with a sight of him: this was confirmed at the hotel. I was glad to find I had brought my famous mast-head spy-glass with me, as it would enable me, from its form and size, to view him to advantage, if I might be so fortunate as to see him. On our arrival on the beach, we associated with a considerable collection of persons on foot and in chaises; and very soon an animal of the fish kind made his appearance, nearly in this attitude and manner:

His head appeared about three feet out of water: I counted thirteen bunches on his back; my family thought there were fifteen: he passed three times, at a moderate rate, across the bay, but so fleet as to occasion a foam in the water: and my family and myself, who were in a carriage, judged that he was from fifty, and not more than sixty feet in length:

whether, however, the wake might not add to the appearance of his length; or whether the undulation of the water, or his peculiar manner of propelling himself, might not cause the appearances of protuberances, I leave for your better judgment. The first view of the animal occasioned some agitation, and the novelty perhaps prevented that precise discrimination which afterwards took place. As he swam up the bay, we and the other spectators moved on, & kept nearly abreast of him; he occasionally withdrew himself under water; and the idea occurred to me, that his occasionally raising his head above the level of the water was to take breath, as the time he kept under was, on an average, about eight minutes: and, after being accustomed to view him, we became more composed; and his general appearance was as here delineated.

Mrs. Prince and the coachman, having better eyes than myself, were of great assistance to me in marking the progress of the animal; they would say he is now turning, and, by the aid of my glass, I saw him distinctly in this movement; he did not turn without occupying some space, and, taking into view the time and the space which he found necessary for his ease and accommodation, I adopted it as a criterion to form some judgment of his length. I had seven distinct views of him from the long beach, so called, and, at some of them, the animal was not more than a hundred yards distant.

After being on the long beach with other spectators about an hour, the animal disappeared, and I proceeded on towards Nahant; but, on passing the second beach, I met Mr. James Magee of Boston, with several ladies, in a carriage, prompted by curiosity to endeavor to see the animal, and we were again gratified beyond even what we saw in the other bay: which I concluded he had left, in consequence of a number of boats in the offing in pursuit of him—the noise of whose oars must have disturbed him, as he appeared to us to be a harmless and timid animal. We had here more than a dozen different views of him, and each similar to the other; one, however, so near, that the coachman exclaimed, "Oh! see his glistening eye!"—Thinking I might make some calculation of his length by the time and distance of each turn; and taking an angle with my two hands, of the length which he exhibited, that is to say, from his head to the last protuberance, and applying the same angle to other objects, I feel satisfied of the correctness of my decision that he is sixty feet long, unless the ripple of his wake deceived me—nor, my dear sir, do I undertake to say he was of the Snake or Eel kind—though this was the general impression of my family, the spectators, and myself. Certain it is, he is a very strange animal. I have been accustomed to see whales, sharks, grampuses, porpoises, and other large fishes, but he partook of none of the appearances of either of these. The whale and the grampus would have spouted—the shark never raises his head out of the water, and the porpoise skips and plays; neither have such appearances on their backs, or such a head as this animal.—The shark, it is true, has a fin on his back, and often the fluke of his tail is out of water; but these appendages would not display the form, and certainly not the number of protuberances which this animal exhibited; nor is it the habit of a shark to avoid a boat. The water was extremely smooth, and the weather clear: we had been so habituated to see him, that we were cool and composed. The time occupied was from a quarter past eight to half past eleven: a cloud of witnesses exceeding two hundred, brought together for a single purpose, were all alike satisfied and united as to appearances, and as to the length and size of the animal; but you must deduct the influence which his passage through the water, and the manner he propelled himself, might have, as to the apparent protuberances on his back, and the ripple occasioned by his motion on his real length, of all which you can judge equally well and better than myself. I must conclude there is a strange animal on our coast—and I have thought an unvarnished statement might be gratifying to a mind attached to the pursuit of natural science, and aid in the inquiries of a controverted question, which I know to have interested you. I have ventured on the description, being also induced to hope, that, if any thing of the marvellous is stated as coming from me, you will correct it.

Accept the respects and attention of,

Dear sir, yours sincerely,

J. PRINCE.

Hon. Judge Davis.'