History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield ...

Miscellaneous JNotes. 241
the eastern section of the city, in a newspaper article published
in June, 1881, referring to the appearance in 18 19, says :
I had the pleasure of seeing his snakeship off Long Beach and Red Rock. He
passed along within one hundred feet from where I stood, giving me a very good
sight of him. At that time he carried his head out of water about two feet, and his speed
was like that of an ordinary ocean steamer. What I saw of his length was from fifty
to sixty feet.
It was very difficult to count the bunches, or bony fins upon his back,
as by his undulating motion they did not all appear at once. This accounts, in part,
for the varied descriptions given of him by different parties. His appearance at the
surface of the water was occasional and but for a short time. This is the best
description I can give of him from my own observation, and I saw the monster as
truly, though not quite so clearly, as I ever saw any thing.
There are honest neighbors of Mr. Chase, who, though they
entertain not the slightest doubt of his veracity,
yet believe that
his eyes did not serve him with entire faithfulness ; or rather
that imagination was unwittingly allowed to add a little of its
illuminating power. The writer has conversed with several who
were on the Beach at the time of the alleged appearance and
found them to disagree considerably as to details, and in positiveness.
One worthy man said, " Why, yes, I saw what they
called the sea-serpent, but could
not make out what some others
present declared they saw." Yet none seemed to doubt that
something wonderful was moving about there.
To this day, with here and there an exception, the Swampscott
fishermen, the yachtsmen, and residents near the shore ridicule
the idea of the existence of such a monster.
Probably not three
in ten of the old fishermen believe that any thing more like a
serpent than a horse-mackerel ever sported in these waters.
But all this is negative ; and the positive testimony of even three
or four credible persons may reasonably be expected to outweigh
it in most minds. Three persons might see a thing that forty
others, did not see, though in a situation where they could hardly
have avoided the sight ; but their not seeing it could not strike
it
out of existence.
A year or two before the alleged first appearance of the wonderful
creature in these waters he was said to have been seen
in the harbor of Gloucester, or about the waters of Cape Ann
;
and the following description of him by Hon. Lonson Nash,
a prominent and highly esteemed resident of that section, appears
in a letter addressed to Hon. John Davis, and published in
a pamphlet entitled " Report of a Committee of the Linnaean
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