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On the supposed Sea-Snake cast on shore in the Orkneys in 1808, and the Animal seen from H.M.S. Dædalus in 1848

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2015

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Extract

The discussions which arose about four years ago on the animal reported to have been seen on 6th August 1848, by Captain M'Quhae, the officers and crew of H.M.S. Dædalus, in the Southern Atlantic, between the Cape of Good Hope and St Helena, about 300 miles off the African shore, recalled my attention to the materials I had collected respecting the vast animal cast ashore on Stronsey, one of the Orkneys, in 1808.

I was not there at the time, but copies of the depositions made by those who had seen and measured it were transmitted to me by order of Malcolm Laing, Esq., the historian of Scotland, on whose property it was stranded; and I obtained other notes from several individuals resident in Orkney.

Type
Proceedings 1853-54
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 3 , 1857 , pp. 208 - 215
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1857

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References

page 211 note * The diameter of the animal is a little differently stated by different witnesses. But as we are told that its contour was more oval than round, we can easily explain the discrepancy. One witness, who had not measured it, speaks of it as equalling a middle-sized horse in thickness. On measuring four horses of from thirteen to fourteen hands in height, I found their greatest circumference to be from seventy-one to seventy-three inches, (or from five feet eleven inches to six feet one inch), or an average of six feet; that is less than the thickest part of our animal, but seemingly near that of its average dimensions.