Research source

This hoax was reprinted in the Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and the Arts of the Royal Institute at…

Date of account: Late nineteenth-century survey
Source: The great sea-serpent: an historical and critical treatise
Reference: The great sea-serpent: an historical and critical treatise · selected passage 26
Rights: public_domain
Language: English edition of a European scholarly compilation
Translation: English edition of A. C. Oudemans's historical survey
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

This hoax was reprinted in the Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and the Arts of the Royal Institute at London, Vol

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

This hoax was reprinted in the _Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and the Arts of the Royal Institute at London_, Vol. VI, 1818, and was apparently believed in by the sender. Mr. OKEN also inserted the tale of WOODWARD in his _Isis_, of 1818, p. 2100.--Thirty years afterwards Mr. EDWARD NEWMAN, the editor of _The Zoologist_, published it in his journal of 1848, p. 2028, without, however, mentioning the source from which he copied it! Why did not he do so? Apparently because he felt ashamed of giving such an old story, and because he was aware of the fact, that the whole account was wonderful, and contained many impossibilities!

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This is a historical compilation of unusual-animal reports and argument. Witness testimony, repetition between publications and the author's zoological assumptions all affect independence and reliability.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

Lattice compares morphology, behaviour and setting while keeping misidentification, folklore, exaggeration, error and known animals available as alternatives.

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