Gloucester Sea Serpent
During the summer of 1817, hundreds of "respectable citizens" witnessed a sea monster in the harbor off Gloucester, just north of Boston, Massachusetts. Members of this fishing community (which, as AmericanMonsters.com points out, was very familiar with the ocean) sighted something all described as a sea serpent over a one-month period.
The first report came on August 10, 1817, when two women claimed they had seen a sea serpent swimming in Gloucester harbor. Over the next month, the New England Linnean Society appointed a committee to investigate the sightings. The Boston Weekly Manager magazine reported that a brave man had tried to harpoon the monster, but failed to do any visible harm to it. It was described by the numerous witnesses as between 80 and 100 feet long and large-eyed, with a head as broad as a horse and a foot-long, horn-like appendage coming out of its head. Some compared it to a "row of casks," seemingly because it was “full of joints and resembled a string of buoys on a net.”
There had also been reports of a monster off Cape Ann in 1638.
The hubbub began anew when in 1918, ship's captains, carpenters and clergymen began reporting the monster again.
According to AmericanMonsters.com,
The most recent reported sighting of the serpent (or one of its offspring) took place in 1962, off the coast of Marshfield, Massachusetts. Sadly, author of “The Great New England Sea Serpent,” J.P. O’Neill, has speculated that centuries of over-fishing off of New England may well have caused the creatures to migrate away from the Gloucester bay area in search of more fertile feeding grounds. Others believe that the change from sail to diesel may have forced the serpents to steering clear of common fishing regions in order to avoid the noise and pollution of modern fishing vessels.
Whatever this animal may or many not have been, the fact remains that it is one of the most scientifically respected encounters in annals of cryptozoology, and remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of the sea.
Here are some quotes on the monster:
“They told me of a sea serpent, or snake, that lay coiled up like a cable upon the rock at Cape Ann; a boat passing by with English on board, and two Indians, they would have shot the serpent, but the Indians dissuaded them, saying that if he were not killed outright, they would all be in danger of their lives…”
--John Josselyn, 1638
“Some being on ye great beache gathering of calms and seaweed which had been cast thereon by ye mightie storm did spy a most wonderful serpent a shorte way off from ye shore. He was big round in ye thickest part as a wine pipe; and they do affirm that he was fifteen fathoms (90 feet) or more in length. A most wonderful tale. But ye witnesses be credible, and it would be of no account to them to tell an untrue tale. Wee have likewise heard yet Cape Ann ye people have seene a monster like unto this, which did there come out of ye land much to ye terror of them eyt did see him.”
--Obadiah Turner, 1641 (describing a creature off Lynn, Massachusetts)
And from AmericanMonsters.com:
"The most recent reported sighting of the serpent (or one of its offspring) took place in 1962, off the coast of Marshfield, Massachusetts. Sadly, author of “The Great New England Sea Serpent,” J.P. O’Neill, has speculated that centuries of over-fishing off of New England may well have caused the creatures to migrate away from the Gloucester bay area in search of more fertile feeding grounds. Others believe that the change from sail to diesel may have forced the serpents to steering clear of common fishing regions in order to avoid the noise and pollution of modern fishing vessels.
"Whatever this animal may or many not have been, the fact remains that it is one of the most scientifically respected encounters in annals of cryptozoology, and remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of the sea."
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