"The following is an abstract of the account given by our correspondent,
Major H. W. I. Senior, of the Bengal Staff Corps, to whom we are indebted
for the sketch from which our engraving is taken: 'On the 28th January
1879, at about 10 A.M., I was on the poop deck of the steamship _City of
Baltimore_, in latitude 12° 28' N., longitude 43° 52' E. I observed a long
black object a-beam of the ship's stern on the starboard side, at a
distance of about three-quarters of a mile, darting rapidly out of the
water and splashing in again with a noise distinctly audible, and
advancing nearer and nearer at a rapid pace. In a minute it had advanced
to within half-a-mile, and was distinctly recognisable as the "veritable
sea-serpent." I shouted out "Sea-serpent! sea-serpent! Call the captain!"
Dr. C. Hall, the ship's surgeon, who was reading on deck, jumped up in
time to see the monster, as did also Miss Greenfield, one of the
passengers on board. By this time it was only about five hundred yards
off, and a little in the rear, owing to the vessel then steaming at the
rate of about ten knots an hour in a westerly direction. On approaching
the wake of the ship, the serpent turned its course a little way, and was
soon lost to view in the blaze of sunlight reflected on the waves of the
sea. So rapid were its movements, that when it approached the ship's wake,
I seized a telescope, but could not catch a view, as it darted rapidly out
of the field of the glass before I could see it. I was thus prevented from
ascertaining whether it had scales or not; but the best view of the
monster obtainable, when it was about three cables' length, that is, about
five hundred yards, distant, seemed to show that it was without scales. I
cannot, however, speak with certainty. The head and neck, about two feet
in diameter, rose out of the water to a height of about twenty or thirty
feet, and the monster opened its jaws wide as it rose, and closed them
again as it lowered its head and darted forward for a dive, reappearing
almost immediately some hundred yards ahead. The body was not visible at
all, and must have been some depth under water, as the disturbance on the
surface was too slight to attract notice, although occasionally a splash
was seen at some distance behind the head. The shape of the head was not
unlike pictures of the dragon I have often seen, with a bull-dog
appearance of the forehead and eye-brow. When the monster had drawn its
head sufficiently out of the water, it let itself drop, as it were, like a
huge log of wood, prior to darting forward under the water.'"
Major Senior's statement is countersigned by the two persons whom he
mentions as co-witnesses.
When in Singapore, in 1880, I received the personal testimony of Captain
Anderson, at that time chief officer of the _Pluto_ (property of the
Straits Government) and formerly a commander in the P. and O. Company's
service.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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