Item
Sea Monsters
Beacon
June 11, 1896
St. Andrews Serpent
Light-Keeper Maloney Believes He Saw It Last Summer
It Swam Like a Race-Horse through St. Andrews Bay—No Oarsman Could Overtake it—An Attempt to Shoot it Proved a Failure
“I’ve been reading what Capt. Brooks said about the sea serpent in St. Andrews Bay,” said the light-keeper Maloney of the Sand Reef light to the Beacon, “and I think there is something in it. What makes me think so? Well, I’ll tell you. I think that I saw the self-same serpent last summer. It’s true that I saw nothing 200 feet in length, but I saw something swimming through the Bay the like of which I never saw before and have not seen since. It was not a seal, because a seal will go under once in a while, but this fish or animal, or whatever it was, never put his head under water. It was around here for a about a week and its field of operations seemed to be between Digdeguash and the mouth of the Bay. Several times I saw it passing backward and forward. It always swam with about six feet of its body out of water. It had no tail that was visible to me, but it left a wake behind it like what a stem launch would make. Only once did it pass between the light-house and the shore; on all other occasions it kept well out in the bay. One day I saw it steaming down from “Diggedy” heading straight for the light. Now, though I to myself, I’ll find out what you are, old boy. So I launched my boat, and taking my gun with me, rowed out in the Bay, hoping to get a shot at the creature. But it soon saw me and shifted its course. I followed after I for a while, but I might as well have chased a comet. It went away from me as if I was standing still. I haven’t seen it this season,” said Mr Maloney, “but if that Calais captain saw anything at all he saw my visitor of last summer.”
Beacon
July 23/1896
A Serpent of Twenty-Five Years Ago
John Bailey, of Vanceboro, Maine, a subscriber of the Beacon and one who always pays up promptly—two circumstances which indicate him to be a man of sound judgment and reliability—writes as follows regarding the sea serpent:--
“I notice in your papers that a sea serpent has been seen in your neighborhood. Twenty-five years ago, while fishing off the Sand Reef light about daylight with John McWeany, I saw the serpent. He was going down the bay at the rate of forty miles an hour. The water was calm and smooth, but he went to fast that he churned up a sea like a steamboat. He stood two feet out of the water.”
Who knows but that this is the same monster that has been seen disporting in St. Andrews bay of late?
Beacon
Jan 23, 1902
Is it a Sea Serpent?
A strange fish has been disporting in Quoddy waters during the past few weeks. At least twenty people have seen it, and every one has a difference sorry to tell of its appearance. One Indian Island man, who was among the first to see this weird monster of the deep, describes it as being between 50 and 100 feet long, with a back fin resembling a dingey sail. Its head is shaped like that of a horse and at time this head is elevated from 15 to 16 feet above the water. Its motion is sinuous, only a small portion of it usually being visible at once. A deer Island man, who says he saw it at a distance of half a mile, declares that the back fin looked as big as a door, and it was shaped like a boat sail. He though the fish was about 100 feet long. Some aver that it is the sea serpent, seeking for some sequestered spot to spend the summer season in; others that it is a huge whale with a procession of baby whales following after it. The men who have seen this monster or monsters are not men who are in the habit of “seeing thing,” so that there is good foundation for the story.
Beacon
Aug 2/1906
At Last the Sea Serpent
Seen In St. Andrews Bay on Thursday Last
The sea serpent has arrived!
There is no longer any doubt about his serpentine majesty holding court in Quoddy waters. On Thursday evening last, about 7 o’clock, the great serpent was seen by light-keeper Theobald Rooney disporting himself quite close to the Sand Reef Light. He had driven two schools of herring ahead of him in the direction of the Holmes weir, when his attention seemed to be suddenly drawn towards the light-house. He moved around quietly for a while, and having satisfied his curiosity, stated off in the direction of Clam Cove head.
Keeper Rooney looked at the serpent trough his glasses and judged he was between twenty-five and thirty feet long. The head was small and kept up a bobbing motion. That part of the body that was visible looked about the size of a large weir stake. Mr. Rooney at first thought it was a shark, but he could see no fin such as shark have in their back. As the serpent moved out of his range of vision he flipped up his tail in a “bye-bye” sort of way and then glided out of sight.
This not the first sea snake Mr. Rooney has seen in St. Andrews bay. Several years ago, a large one appeared before him and other local fishermen and made a great noise as it scudded through the water. The serpent he saw on Thursday night was moving along in less strenuous fashion and made no noise whatever. Mr. Rooney is a reliable man who is not given to seeing “snakes” other than sea serpents.
Beacon
Aug 23/1906
The Sea Serpent Again
Capt. Miah Mitchell Sees His Snakeship
Another reputable boatman has come forward to testify to the existence of a sea serpent, or something of that nature, in St. Andrews Bay.
Capt. Miah Mitchell, sailing master for Mr. J. Howe Allen, of East Orange, New Jersey, is the last man to make the acquaintance of the big snake. “I was skipping along with a nice breeze on Thursday afternoon,” said Capt. Mitchell, “when I saw something ahead of me about a quarter of a mile from the Sand Reef Light house which attracted my attention. It seemed to me about thirty feet long, and was leaving a wake behind it such as would be caused by a boat in motion. I got within twenty feet of it when it suddenly, became aware of my presence. Lifting it head, which seemed to be about the size of a barrel and greyish-brown in color, it looked about from side to side, and then with a rush it was off in the direction of Clam Cove head. Talk about speed, there isn’t a gasoline boat in Quoddy that could hold a candle to this sea serpent. The ‘Evelyn’ wasn’t in it at all. I have seen many fish in my day,” remarked Capt. Mitchell, “but I have never seen anything like this before and don’t expect to again.”
Asked if Mr. Allen had seen the monster, Capt. Mitchell said that Mr. Allen was sleeping in the cabin at the time and he didn’t care to wake him, fearing that he thing would be out of sight when he got up and he would have the laugh on him.
Beacon
Sept 12/1907
A Strange Sea Monster in St. Croix Waters
Thought by Some to be a Female Narwhal from Arctic Waters—bears a Charmed Life
The “sea serpent” which has been alarming bathers and boatmen in the St. Croix River fore several weeks past and which seems to bear a charmed life, turns out to e a species of white whale, probably a female narwhal. The big fish belongs properly to Arctic waters, but has probably been beguiled hitherward by the schools of herring which have tolled it along the coast and finally led it into the St. Croix River.
Many of our boatmen have been in close quarters with the leviathan and know whereof they speak.
Isaac Johnson was rowing off to his weir on Monday morning, dreaming of the shekels that the little silvery fish he had imprisoned herein would yield him when the white monster suddenly rose up in the water along side him. To say he was alarmed conveyed but a small idea of his feelings at the time. He said he could feel his fair lifting up his hat. The big fish followed him for some distance, disporting alongside the boat, and evidently in a playful mood. When the boat got in shallow water the fish refused to follow it any farther.
William Winchester, another reputable boatman, had a somewhat similar experience. He and Wellington Carson were rowing to their weir when the fish ran up alongside and showed a disposition to get chummy. Winchester had a sharp boat-hood in his boat and he drove it with all high might against the fish. The boat hook flew back as if it had struck against e big mass of hard rubber. As the fish got the blow, it turned about and looked at the fisherman with a sad, wistful look, as much as to say “I didn’t think you’d use a fellow that way,” and then disappeared.
Several Weirmen about Katy’s Cove have also been in close touch with the fish. George Simpson drove a lance into its side but the weapon glanced off taking with a piece of the fish’s hide which was as hard as sole leather. He noticed a long scar in the fish’s back. He thinks this was caused by the shot some one fired at it while upriver. The male narwhal is known as a sea-unicorn because it has a horn from six to ten feet long protruding from its snout. This horn is an extension of one of the teeth in the upper jaw. . . .
The cetacean in the St. Croix waters is of the same whitish color as the narwhal but is has no horn. It is from twelve to fifteen feet long and about as big around as an oil barrel. The fishermen have noticed that it plays about the spar buoys a great deal. Capt. Ingersoll of the Steamer Aurora had a long shot at it with his glass while it was disporting itself near St. Croix Island last week. At that time it was circling the red buoy above the Thumb Cap. This predilection for buoys may be due to two causes. The fish may be feeding on the mollusca which gather about the buoys or it may see some resemblance to its “affinity” in he large, floating spars.
At all events there is no doubt abut the presence of a strange sea monster in the locality. It has shown on ferocity, but might do so if enraged. It would be just as well for boatmen who are not fitted up for whale hunting, to let it alone.
Beacon
Oct 24/1907
That Strange Sea Animal
Said to be a Common Beluga, not Sea Serpent
Referring to the big white fish which disported itself in the St. Croix river and contiguous waters during the past summer, (and which has not been heard from fro several weeks), Prof. Penballow of McGill University, writes the Beacon that he has no hesitation in saying that it is a very common inhabitant of the sea, though possible rare in the St. Croix waters. “there can be no doubt that it is nothing more than the common Beluga or white whale, which in the lower St. Lawrence river is commonly called the white porpoise. From this you will see that there is nothing in the animal to excite such feelings of uneasiness as were experienced by some of the good people on the St. Croix River. I can only repeat what I said to some of those living in the vicinity, that if the whale is still in the river next summer, we shall endeavor to take it into the Station (biological) where it may be seen.”