Bailhache, John "Mariners See a Huge Sea Serpent," Fort Morgan Times (15 November 1889)

We [the ship Emma] had been a week out from Santo Domingo, and were out about twenty miles northeast from Cedros Island, when early one morning we saw a commotion in the sea about a mile off. It was a very quiet morning, and we crept up very close. We saw a strange sight. A whale about 30 feet long had been found or killed by the monster that was feeding upon it.

At intervals the serpent would roar up out of the sea so that we could coolly survey his entire form. His body was round and about three times as long as the whale, or 100 feet long. Its head was as near like a turtle as anything else, with the mouth set well back under the jaw. We did not see the eyes, so I can not say if they are the traditional flaming eyeballs or not. On each side of the body were five or six legs, each webbed and horned like the wings of a dragon.

While feeding on the whale it made a peculiar, horrible wheezing or hissing sound, but when it saw us it stopped and drew slowly away, looking back over its shoulder at us. It circled away about half a mile, and we could still see it kept an eye on us.

We made haste and sailed away from that locality, for if inclined it could have taken our little schooner at a mouthful. As we came north we saw the weird monster return to his prey, and before long the breeze brought the horrible wheezing sound to our ears.

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