Sea serpent
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A sea serpent is a type of sea monster described in various mythologies,[1] most notably Mesopotamian (Tiamat), Judaeo-Christian (Leviathan), Greek (Cetus, Echidna, Hydra, Scylla), and Norse (Jörmungandr).
Mythology
Mediterranean and Western Asia
The
In
Natural history
An apparent eye-witness account is given by
Norway, 16th century
Swedish
Those who sail up along the coast of Norway to trade or to fish, all tell the remarkable story of how a serpent of fearsome size, from 200 feet [60 m] to 400 feet [120 m] long, and 20 feet [6 m] wide, resides in rifts and caves outside
Bergen. On bright summer nights this serpent leaves the caves to eat calves, lambs and pigs, or it fares out to the sea and feeds on sea nettles, crabs and similar marine animals. It has ell-long hair hanging from its neck, sharp black scales and flaming red eyes. It attacks vessels, grabs and swallows people, as it lifts itself up like a column from the water.[8][9]
Norwegian Bishop Erik Pontoppidan (1698–1764) did not disbelieve the existence of sea serpents themselves, but doubted they would prey on ships and feed on humans,[10] being more cautious-minded in that respect than Archbishop Olaus (of Upsala). Nevertheless, a number of reports were made by sailors at the time that sea serpents would destroy ships by wrapping the ship in coils of their body and pulling it underwater. Sailors threatened by a sea serpent were said to have thrown large objects such as paddles or shovels overboard in the path of the serpent, hoping that the serpent would take the object and leave without destroying the ship.[11]
Greenland in 1734
Rev. Hans Egede,[a] a Dano-Norwegian clergyman who was an early explorer and surveyor of Greenland, gave an 18th-century description of a sea serpent witnessed by his party. In his journal he wrote:[14][15]
On the 6th of July, 1734, there appeared a very large and frightful sea monster, which raised itself so high out of the water that its head reached above our
mainmast). It had a long, sharp snout, and spouted water like a whale; and very broad flappers. The body seemed to be covered with scales, and the skin was uneven and wrinkled, and the lower part was formed like a snake. After some time the creature plunged backwards into the water, and then turned its tail up above the surface, a whole ship-length from the head. The following evening we had very bad weather" ―translated in Henry Lee (1883).[15]
Egede also wrote on the same sea-monster sighting in his book, noting that the beast was spotted at the 64th
Bing further described this creature as having reddish eyes, almost burning with fire. This convinced Bishop Pontoppidan that this was different from the type of sea serpent seen by others. From Bing's drawing, Pontoppidan estimated the creature to be considerably shorter than the length of a cable rope, or 100 fathoms (200 m (220 yd)) attested by multiple witnesses, and the pair of fins which were attached "below the waist (Danish: liv)" in Pontoppidan's view, was another unusual feature.[19]
Lee proposed a rational explanation that this sea-serpent was a misapprehended sighting of what was actually the exposed head and one tentacle of a great squid (Cf. figure above left).[20]
New York exhibition in 1845
In 1845, a 35 m (115 ft) long skeleton claimed as belonging to an extinct sea serpent was put on a show in the New York City by Albert C. Koch. The claim was debunked by Prof. Jeffries Wyman, an anatomist who went to see the skeleton for himself. Wyman declared that the skull of the animal had to be mammalian in origin, and that the skeleton was composed of bones of several different animals, including an extinct species of whale.[21]
Portuguese waters, 1848
On 6 August 1848 Captain McQuhae of
A report was published in the
On the morning of the 31st December, 1848, in lat. 41° 13'N., and long. 12° 31'W., being nearly due west of Oporto, I saw a long black creature with a sharp head, moving slowly, I should think about two knots [3.7 km/h; 2.3 mph] ... its back was about twenty feet [6 m] if not more above water; and its head, as near as I could judge, from six to eight [1.8 to 2.4 m] ...There was something on its back that appeared like a mane, and, as it moved through the water, kept washing about; but before I could examine it more closely, it was too far astern
— "A Naval Officer"[23]
- "A giant snake appeared at once from the water - and the largest cetacean a boa constrictor way wrapped twice. (I note such a physeter It can grow to 20-30 meters long!) It lasted for about 15 minutes the deadly struggle, the sea was just foaming and crashing waves around us, finally the back of the whale stood out Out of the water, he sank head first into the deep where the snake must have killed him. A cold shiver ran through us a cet at the sight of his final struggle; so writhing poor in the monster's double ring, like a little bird between the claws of a falcon. View of the two rings, the snake. It could have been 160-170 feet long and 7-8 feet thick."[11]
Gallery
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Olaus Magnus's Sea Orm, 1555
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The first American sea serpent, reported from Cape Ann, Massachusetts, in 1639
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Sea serpents,Macao
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A sea serpent depicted in the coat of arms of Seljord in Norway
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Maned sea serpent from Bishop Erik Pontoppidan's 1755 work Natural History of Norway
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The Gloucester sea serpent of 1817
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A hairy sea serpent
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Albert Koch's 35-metre-long (115-foot) "Hydrarchos" fossil skeleton from 1845. It was found to be an assembled collection of bones from at least five fossil specimens of Basilosaurus.
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"Supposed Appearance Of The Great Sea-Serpent, From H.M.S. Plumper, Sketched By An Officer On Board",Illustrated London News, 14 April 1849
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The sea serpent spotted by the crew of HMS Daedalus in 1848
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Another of the original illustrations of the HMS Daedalus encounter
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Oarfish that washed ashore on a Bermuda beach in 1860. The animal was 5 m (16 feet) long and was originally described as a sea serpent.
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The arms ofsupporters.
In media
- C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia features a sea serpent as one of many obstacles in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, along with the 1989 TV serial and the 2010 film based on it.
- The New Beany and Cecil Show by prouducer DIC Entertainment.
See also
- Bakunawa
- Chinese dragon
- Giant oarfish
- Gyarados
- Kraken
- Lindworm
- Nāga
- Pyrosome
- Selma
- Stronsay Beast
- Ogopogo
- Jörmungandr
- Imugi(Korea)
- Mizuchi (Japan)
Explanatory notes
- ^ "The Apostle of Greenland"
References
- ^ "Sea serpent | mythology". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-19-259688-8. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
- ^ Pilleri, Georg (1969). Investigations on Cetacea. Hirnanatomisches Institut der Universität. p. 19. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
- ISBN 0859915131.
- ^ "Ormen i Syltefjellet". Archived from the original on July 24, 2011.
- ^ "Galleri NOR". Nb.no. July 11, 1934. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
- ^ Strabo. Geography. Book 16, chapter 2, paragraph 17.
- ^ "Norse Mythology – Jormungandr". Oracle Thinkquest. Archived from the original on August 21, 2013. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- ISBN 978-1-60152-345-7.
- ^ Oudemans1892, p. 134.
- ^ a b Ráth-Végh István: A tengeri kígyó, Móra Ferenc Ifjúsági Könyvkiadó, Budapest, 1980, ISBN 963-11-2161-5
- ^ a b Lee (1883), p. 66.
- ^ "The Great Sea Serpent (according to Hans Egede)". Antique Print & Map Room. 2023. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
- ^ Ramsvig (1902), p. 271.
- ^ a b Lee (1883), p. 65.
- ^ Ramsvig (1902), pp. 271–272.
- ^ Egede, Hans (1741) [1729]. "Kap. VI. Hvad Slags Diur, Fiske og Fugle den Grønlandske Søe giver af sig etc. / § Andre Søe-Diur". Det gamle Grønlands nye perlustration,. (in Danish). Copenhagen: Groth. pp. 47–48. digital copy@National Library Norway. modern typeset reprint, pp. 65–66 (1926) A.W. Brøggers boktrykkeris forlag.
- ^ Egede, Hans (1745). "Ch. 6. Of the Greenland Sea Animals, and Sea Fowl and Fishes / § Of other Sea Animals". A description of Greenland : Shewing the natural history, situation, boundaries and face of the country, the nature of the soil;. London: Printed for C. Hitch in Pater-noster Row; S. Austen in Newgate-Street; and J. Jackson near St. James's Gate. pp. 85–89. digital copy@National Library Norway.
- ^ Ramsvig (1902), p. 272.
- ^ Lee (1883), p. 67.
- ISBN 978-0-8103-8414-9.
- ^ "The Daedalus Sea Serpent Solved". Skeptical Inquirer. September–October 2015. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
- Illustrated London News. April 14, 1849.
- Bibliography
- Oudemans, A. C. (1892). The Great Sea-serpent: An Historical and Critical Treatise. Vol. 1. Lackerbauer, P[ierre] (illustr.). Leiden: E.J. Brill.
- Lee, Henry (1883), "The Great Sea Serpent", Sea Monsters Unmasked, The Fisheries Exhibition Literature 3, London: William Clowes and Sons, pp. 52–103
- Ramsvig, S. A. (July–December 1902). "Sjø-ormens historie: Beretninger om dette hav-uhyres tilsynekomst". Kringsjaa (in Danish). 20: 267-275.
- (Further reading)
- ISBN 978-1-4384-2802-4.
External links
- Video of the oarfish, a creature that possibly inspired the sea serpent mythology.
- https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/great-sea-serpent/
- https://www.gutenberg.org/files/36677/36677-h/36677-h.htm