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The high seas were a very dangerous
place for sailing vessels for countless years. Massachusetts has its share
of maritime folklore. Besides local ghost stories, and sailor's tradition
about the infamous Flying Dutchman ghost ship, Massachusetts had for many
years its own sea serpent.
The Nahant Sea Serpent, also known
as the Gloucester Sea Serpent, was a regular visitor to Massachusetts waters
during the 1800s. According to A Book of New England Legends and Folk Lore
by Samuel Adams Drake (1884), the first account of the monster was at
Gloucester in 1638. John Josselyn Gent wrote about the serpent being
observed: "[Coiled] up on a rock at Cape Ann by a passing boat, and that
when an Englishman would have fired at him, an Indian hastily prevented his
doing so, saying that it would bring them ill luck." Two hundred years later
in 1817, the serpent was spotted off Cape Ann by hundreds of spectators,
which greatly publicized the existence of a sea monster in Massachusetts
waters.
In 1877, the Nahant Sea Serpent was
observed by beachgoers and fishermen. The July 19th issue of the Boston
Globe describes the appearance of the sea monster:
"That shiny sea serpent which has
been such a terror along the New England coast during the past few years has
made his debut in Nahant waters this season. He was seen on Monday and again
this morning, and the circumstances of his presence are given in such detail
by astonished beholders that there is general credence given to the
statement that an unusual and prodigious serpentine monster is [displaying]
himself in the waters of Massachusetts Bay.
The first discovery was made by a
pleasure party on King's Beach, at about 4 o'clock Monday afternoon, who say
that all of them, nine in number, observed about half a mile from shore
between themselves and Egg Rock, moving with great rapidity, what could have
been nothing else than a huge fish or snake. They say it was perfectly calm
at the time, and a large part of the body's length was visible above the
water line, as were also its snake-like motions....
The observers had glasses which
enabled them to see distinctly that the strange monster was of an unusual
species, and there are many around here who believe it to be a veritable sea
serpent. There is of course considerable excitement all along the beach, and
some old fishermen who were out early this morning have added to the general
commotion by claiming that they too got a momentary glimpse of the
mysterious stranger. This latter report would not be regarded of much
account but for the fact that when the fishermen told their story they had
not heard of the discovery made by other parties on Monday. They say they
only saw it for a moment, that it seemed to be about 30 feet in length, and
was meandering through the water with head slightly elevated, and at times
nearly the whole body would seem to rise partially up out of the water.
The summer visitors here are not
skeptical about the monster being of a snakey species, and the citizens are,
many of them, of the opinion that he is nothing short of a veritable sea
serpent. The same or a similar one was reported along the coast several
times last summer, and on one occasion his identity was vouched for in
enthusiastic earnest by the officers, crew and entire lot of passengers on
board one of the Philadelphia steamers, who sighted the strange being a few
miles below Boston Light."
The sea monster was most likely a
large whale of course. |
