THE PUBLIC LEDGER — JANUARY 20, 1877
A REAL SEA SERPENT AT LAST ♢ He is Clearly Seen—Fifty Feet Long and Barred in Black and Yellow.
[London Spectator, December 30.]
In the Straits of Malacca, the sea monster so repeatedly seen, and so repeatedly declared to be mythical, appears at last to have been carefully observed by competent witnesses. The creature was seen by the passengers and crew of the ship Nestor, on her voyage to Shanghai, and on her arrival at Shanghai the master of the ship (Mr. John Keiller Webster) and the surgeon (Mr. James Anderson) made a statutory declaration of what they had seen before a magistrate, as a mode, we suppose, of formally attesting that they spoke in good faith.
The creature (which resembled a huge salamander, only that instead of being about six or eight inches long, these dimensions must be multiplied by at least 73 or 100, the body being from 45 feet to 50 feet in length, the head 12 feet, and the tail, it is said, no less than 150 feet), was first seen at 10:30 on the 11th of September, fifteen miles northwest of the North Sand Light-house, in the Straits of Malacca. The weather was fine, the sea smooth and the air perfectly clear. The Chinese on deck were terribly alarmed, and set up a howl. The whole watch and three saloon passengers saw the creature clearly, and observed its movements.
