Research source

I have not had the opportunity of consulting this work, but the passage about the sea-serpent runs m

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 236
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

DE BLAINVILLE tried to throw ridicule on two reports, viz

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

In one respect Mr. DE BLAINVILLE tried to throw ridicule on two reports, viz. those of ROBERT BRAGG and WILLIAM SOMERBY: “and the imagination of some sailors is cause that they saw a tongue or spear coming out of his mouth, to which they gave a length of twelve feet, a circumference of 6 inches at the bottom and a termination as a lancet.” As we saw, the two sailors only mentioned a _tongue_ of _two_ feet; they did not use the expression of spear, they neither gave the circumference at the bottom, nor did they describe the termination as a _lancet_’s but as a _harpoon_’s. It was Mr. FOSTER who saw a _prong_ or _spear_, but only of twelve _inches_ and terminating in a _small point_. At all events Mr.

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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