Some confirmation of Captain Drevar's story is afforded by one quoted by the Rev. Henry T. Cheeves, in _The Whale and his Captors_. The author says:-- "From a statement made by a Kinebeck shipmaster in 1818, and sworn to before a justice of the peace in Kinebeck county, Maine, it would seem that the notable sea-serpent and whale are sometimes found in conflict. At six o'clock in the afternoon of June 21st, in the packet _Delia_, plying between Boston and Hallowell, when Cape Ann bore west-south-west about two miles, steering north-north-east, Captain Shuback West and fifteen others on board with him saw an object directly ahead, which he had no doubt was the sea-serpent, or the creature so often described under that name, engaged in fight with a large whale.... "The serpent threw up its tail from twenty-five to thirty feet in a perpendicular direction, striking the whale by it with tremendous blows, rapidly repeated, which were distinctly heard, and very loud, for two or three minutes; they then both disappeared, moving in a south-west direction; but after a few minutes reappeared in-shore of the packet, and about under the sun, the reflection of which was so strong as to prevent their seeing so distinctly as at first, when the serpent's fearful blows with his tail were repeated and clearly heard as before. They again went down for a short time, and then came up to the surface under the packet's larboard quarter, the whale appearing first, and the serpent in pursuit, who was again seen to shoot up his tail as before, which he held out of water for some time, waving it in the air before striking, and at the same time his head fifteen or twenty feet, as if taking a view of the surface of the sea. After being seen in this position a few minutes, the serpent and whale again disappeared, and neither was seen after by any on board. It was Captain West's opinion that the whale was trying to escape, as he spouted but once at a time on coming to the surface, and the last time he appeared he went down before the serpent came up." [Illustration: FIG. 75.--SEA-SERPENT ATTACKING WHALE. (_From Sketches by Capt. Davidson, S.S. "Kiushiu-maru."_)] A remarkable and independent corroboration of modern date comes from the Japan seas. It was reported both in local papers and in the _San Francisco Californian Mail-Bag_ for 1879, from which I extract the notice and the illustrative cuts (Fig. 75). "The accompanying engravings are _fac-similes_ of a sketch sent to us by Captain Davidson, of the steamship _Kiushiu-maru_,[271] and is inserted as a specimen of the curious drawings which are frequently forwarded to us for insertion. Captain Davidson's statement, which is countersigned by his chief officer, Mr. McKechnie, is as follows:-- "'Saturday, April 5th, at 11.15 A.M., Cape Satano distant about nine miles, the chief officer and myself observed a whale jump clear out of the sea, about a quarter of a mile away.