Joseph Brown meets the sea serpent, 1811
As stories of the sea serpent made the rounds of New England newspapers in August 1817, a new sighting was added to the mix. The Newburyport Herald [Newburyport, Massachusetts] stitched together a quilt of information on page two of the August 26 issue: the goings-on at Gloucester, Captain Cleveland’s encounter, the fight between a serpent and the Roman army.
On page three readers encountered Joseph Brown’s strange experience when he spotted a large object accompanied by a crowd of sea creatures. It looked to him like a sunken ship, but as his brig passed, it turned its head on its long neck and looked at him.
It’s a good story, with precise details. The coordinates appear to put the sighting in the north Atlantic Ocean. Brown’s description is full of details. And what was his creature? The large object surrounded by sea creatures seems to this landlocked landlubber like something large and dead being eaten, though Brown doesn’t mention any smell and surely would recognize a whale being demolished by other creatures.
Captain Brown’s statement is also interesting typographically, in that the statement itself uses the long s (ſ), while—except for once—the editorial introduction uses the short s (s). While the long s was fading out of the language, having had its heyday, it still showed up well into the 19th century, especially in handwriting. (Genealogists quickly learn to recognize it because some U.S. census workers used it until at least 1860.) Other Massachusetts newspapers also used the long s, but it’s tempting to think that Captain Brown wrote his observation using it and the printer consciously or unconsciously picked up those pieces of type when setting the text.
Captain Brown’s statement soon took its place in summations of earlier adventures in sea serpent-spotting—without its typographical eccentricity. (The original formatting is included below.)
“The Serpent.” Newburyport Herald, Commercial & Country Gazette [Newburyport, Massachusetts] 26 August 1817 [Tuesday]; p. 3.
THE SERPENT.—Since this huge “reptile” has made his appearance in Gloucester harbour, similar creatures, that have been formerly discovered, are brought into notice, which renders the existence of such an animal beyond dispute.
By the politeness of Capt. Brown, we have been favoured with the following account of a Sea-Serpent which he saw on his voyage to St. Petersburgh in 1811.
“Being bound to St. Petersburgh in the brig Washington of Newburyport, in the year 1811, about the last of July, being then in Lat. 60, 50 N. and Long. 7, 40 W. I discovered something about three or four miles distant, about two points on the weather bow, which appeared like a mast, as it rose and sunk in a perpendicular manner, once in about eight or ten minutes. I kept the vessel directly for it, and after looking at it with my glass, I observed to my mate that it was a wreck as I could see the timbers &c sticking up, but as we approached nearer, I found what appeared like timbers, to be a number of Porpoises and Black fish playing and jumping around a large Sea Serpent, which we had supposed to be a mast. He appeared to keep the same motion of rising and sinking from the time of his first coming in sight, till we lost sight of him astern, and his motions and progress were very moderate, and appeared to be making his way to the N N E. and the above fish playing round him, as long as we could see him with a glass. I suppose he was in sight of us about an hour and a half. I had a number of fair views of him, and when abreast of him he came up about thirty feet from the vessel, and rose about fifteen feet above the surface, with his head bent a little forward, but did not appear to be startled, but turned his head as if to view the vessel. His head was formed somewhat like the head of an eel, only more blunt, his back was nearly black, and his belly a muddy white or grey; he had a sharp looking eye about as large as that of an horse; his mouth was about fifteen inches in length, and he was about as big round as a barrel or rather less, and generally rose about fifteen feet above the surface—he had eight creases on the under part of his neck which came half way round, which I supposed to be his gills—his head appeared to be from 18 to 24 inches in length; he had no appearance of any fins or scales, but was smooth like the skin of a porpoise.
JOSEPH BROWN, 3d.[”]
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For the curious, this is how the piece reads as printed:
“The Serpent.” Newburyport Herald, Commercial & Country Gazette [Newburyport, Massachusetts] 26 August 1817 [Tuesday]; p. 3.
THE SERPENT.—Since this huge “reptile” has made his appearance in Gloucester harbour, similar creatures, that have been formerly discovered, are brought into notice, which renders the existence of such an animal beyond dispute.
By the politeness of Capt. Brown, we have been favoured with the following account of a Sea-Serpent which he ſaw on his voyage to St. Petersburgh in 1811.
“Being bound to St. Petersburgh in the brig Waſhington of Newburyport, in the year 1811, about the laſt of July, being then in Lat. 60, 50 N. and Long. 7, 40 W. I discovered something about three or four miles distant, about two points on the weather bow, which appeared like a maſt, as it roſe and ſunk in a perpendicular manner, once in about eight or ten minutes. I kept the vessel directly for it, and after looking at it with my glaſs, I obſerved to my mate that it was a wreck as I could ſee the timbers &c ſticking up, but as we approached nearer, I found what appeared like timbers, to be a number of Porpoises and Black fiſh playing and jumping around a large Sea Serpent, which we had ſupposed to be a mast. He appeared to keep the ſame motion of rising and ſinking from the time of his firſt coming in ſsight, till we loſt ſight of him aſtern, and his motions and progreſs were very moderate, and appeared to be making his way to the N N E. and the above fiſh playing round him, as long as we could ſee him with a glaſs. I suppoſe he was in ſight of us about an hour and a half. I had a number of fair views of him, and when abreaſt of him he came up about thirty feet from the vessel, and roſe about fifteen feet above the ſurface, with his head bent a little forward, but did not appear to be ſtartled, but turned his head as if to view the vessel. His head was formed somewhat like the head of an eel, only more blunt, his back was nearly black, and his belly a muddy white or grey; he had a sharp looking eye about as large as that of an horse; his mouth was about fifteen inches in length, and he was about as big round as a barrel or rather leſs, and generally roſe about fifteen feet above the ſurface—he had eight creases on the under part of his neck which came half way round, which I ſupposed to be his gills—his head appeared to be from 18 to 24 inches in length; he had no appearance of any fins or scales, but was smooth like the skin of a porpoise.
JOSEPH BROWN, 3d.[”]
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