Part 53
1. _Relative mobility of organs._ We have already mentioned that the eyes, like the nostrils and the mouth, may be shut or opened wide. Yet they do not seem to be very movable (103).
The head may be held at right angles with the neck (70, fig. 24). The animal can bend its neck in several directions, moving it like that of a swan (124, 151, fig. 49), consequently bent dorso-ventrally in the form of a stretched S. When only the forepart of the neck, curved in such a way, is visible above water, the observers naturally say that it is curved (97), or bent in a semi-circle (115). It can also turn its head a little sideways (60, 63, 93). The swimming in vertical undulations is surely a proof of dorso-ventral flexibility. It has the power to hold its body in a straight line, quite stiff, even in swimming. Also it has the power to bend its neck, trunk and tail dorso-ventrally into numerous “bunches”, unless it is not the whole mass of its body, but only the layer of muscles, bacon and its skin, which it is able to bend in such a manner, for it is observed lying perfectly still, showing, however, numerous bunches (34, 42, 61, 64, 67, 69, 106 A, 154). In this condition it may even swim (60, 63). These bunches according to its body-length, may be of the size of a barrel (34), or from six to seven feet from each other, and from three to four feet high (154, fig. 50). On some occasions it gave the impression of a creature crooking up its back to sun itself (137), for there was no appearance of undulation; when the lumps sunk, other lumps did not rise in the intervals between them (137). Twice it is observed only with its head and its tail above water, the body slightly under (135, 162), and once casting itself backwards, and in doing so, its tail rose high above the water (5) so that the animal was bent dorsally in the form of an U or horse-shoe (fig. 19).
Its lateral flexibility is also astonishing. In turning it bends its body quite in the form of a horse-shoe, the head nearly touching its tail end (39, 41, 44); in turning twice immediately after each other or in playing, its body is bent in the form of the letter S (63, fig. 37, fig. 38). Also it may play in circles (39). Once, seized by a spermwhale, evidently in its trunk, it wound itself laterally round the head and upperjaw of its attacker (144). Its tail is said to lash the water (151? 158), and to wind itself up, and to rest for a moment on a part of the trunk (106 A). In short it is as limber and active as an eel (44).
Provided, as sea-lions are, with rather a thick layer of bacon under its skin, the animal, when it bends its body in the form of a horse-shoe, either laterally or dorsally, naturally shows in the concave side of the curve, wrinkles or folds (5) in its skin. When its head is held nearly at right angles with the neck, the skin under the chin is contracted into folds, which led to the description that the animal had some “gills” (read “gill-splits”, 56). When its neck is a little contracted, it may happen that three folds of the skin encircle the neck, which when held so for some time, and exposed to the sun, dry on their highest part, and when stretched again, will show “three yellow collars” (71). It may also be that “at about six feet from the jaws there is a protuberance on its back like a small watercask” (126), or that “a kind of scroll, or tuft of loose skin, encircles the neck about two feet from the head” (131).
The flappers may be lifted up so high that they are occasionally visible above the surface (106 A, 118, 137, 154, fig. 50); when the animal is swimming with extreme rapidity, they may be raised still higher, so that they are almost entirely above the surface (129, 148, fig. 36, fig. 45), but then they are not directed hindwards, but forwards, “they were turned to the contrary way” (129, fig. 36, fig. 50). The flappers move alternately: “the movements of the flappers were those of a turtle”, “the monster paddled itself along after the fashion of a turtle” (148), and have “a semi-revolving motion” (148). When the animal swims with vertical undulations, it may press the flappers close against the body, so that seen from above, it is as if the flappers were wanting (82).
2. _Motions._ Hitherto we have considered the animal by itself, let us now see how it moves in the water.
The first sign of the presence of a sea-serpent may, of course, be very different. Generally, when the animal was met with it was already swimming on the surface; sometimes it lay still, and it appeared to be a wreck or a small rock, but on approaching gradually changed into a living animal; and sometimes, though rarely, it appeared on the surface not far from the vessels. It is a proof that it may remain a tolerably long time under water before it comes to the surface to breathe. This may happen in two ways; viz. 1. After it has swum a long time just below the surface, it will gradually raise its head above it, and 2. When it has swum for some time very deep below the surface, it will rise perpendicularly upwards. Instances of the _first_ manner of coming to the surface will be found in the following passages: “the first sign of the sea-serpent coming up was a rushing in the water ahead of the ship; at first we imagined it to be a whale spouting” (83), “attention was first directed to it by the broken action of the water” (126). Apparently this happened also in the animal of Captain TREMEARNE (129). In the _other_ manner of coming to the surface, going upwards with great speed, a large portion of the animal is shown to the spectators: “it raised its head high above the surface (1, 31, 36), even so high that the foreflappers became visible” (5, 121); “arising out of the depths of Ocean, stretches to the skies its enormous neck, masthead high” (p. 225); “it raised itself slowly and gracefully from the deep” (124), “it suddenly stood quite perpendicular out of the water to the height of sixty feet” (145); “a head and neck rose out of the water to a height of about twenty or thirty feet (149, 151, 152, see also fig. 19, fig. 46, fig. 48, fig. 49). Once it struck a vessel in coming to the surface (122) so that it may be supposed that the animal had its eyes shut.
Generally it swims with vertical undulations (1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 12, p. 130, p. 138, 18, 23, 28, 29, 30, 31, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 48, 51, 60, 63, 65, 66, 67, 70, 81, 82, 83, 85, 91, 92, 94, 95, 101, 102, 103, 113, 114, 115, 117, 119, 126, 128, 137, 138, 139, 150, 155, 157, see also the following figures 24, 26, 27, 32, 33, 34, 35, 39, 47, 51). The undulations may be large or small, so that their number differs, but also the animal’s higher or lower position in the water is cause, that their number may greatly vary. Of course it is not always easy to account for a small number of coils. This number is mentioned to be two or three (102), three (113), three to four (138), three to five (117), four or more (139), seven (137, 157), not more than seven (137), seven or eight (9), not more than eight (41), at least ten (85), ten or twelve (44, 60), thirteen to fifteen (63), fifteen to twenty three (63), fourteen (69), several (83), twenty five (2). In our illustrations we find four (fig. 40, fig. 47, fig. 51), six (fig. 26), seven (fig. 24, fig. 39), eight (fig. 35), eleven (fig. 27, fig. 34) and twenty (fig. 33).
The motion of the animal is said to be _wrongly_ serpentine (29, 91, 103, 119, 157), like that of a snake (101, 115, 155), like that of an eel (117), and _rightly_ vermicular (82), like that of a caterpillar (41), like that of a leech (94).
The coils are said to resemble or to be as large as ten-gallon kegs (41), half-barrels (60), flour barrels (60), large kegs (117), those of a dromedary (83), about three feet long (117).
The space between the coils, for there is always a space visible between them (p. 130), is sometimes large, at other times small; it was a space of one fathom (9), of seven feet (69), or of three feet (60).
The whole animal swimming with vertical undulations, and seen from afar, resembles a string of tuns or hogsheads (p. 130), a large shoal of fish (read porpoises) with a seal at one end of it (29), a string of empty barrels tied together (60), a string of casks tied together (60), a string of large casks, gently bubbing up and down (114), a long chain of rocks (106 A), a long chain of enormous rings (106 A), a number of barrels linked together (106 A), eight seals in a row (137), a flock of wild ducks swimming (157).
The height of the coils above water was, according to the animal’s lower or higher position in the water, or according to its bulk, about six inches (41), eight or ten inches (39), at least three feet (114), only a few feet (106 A); we also find the notices: “apparently about one third of the upperpart of its body was above water” (93), “it partly raised itself above the surface of the water” (94).
As is to be expected, the bunches decrease in size towards the tail (69, 102); of coarse this will always be the case.
It seems that sometimes the undulations are limited only to the trunk of the animal: “I saw no bunches towards I thought the end of the tail, and I believe there were none; from where I judged his navel might be, to the end of his tail there were no bunches visible” (44); “the first bunch appeared ten or twelve feet from his head” (69); “about thirty feet behind the head appeared the first coil” (81).
The reader will remember (see _Relative mobility of organs_) that the animal may crook up its back, or the layer of bacon of its back, when lying perfectly still. It seems evident that it also is able to swim with its flappers, whilst its back is in such a condition: “the bunches appeared to be fixed” (60); “his bunches appeared to be not altogether uniform in size, and as he moved along some appeared to be depressed and others brought above the surface, though I could not perceive any motion in them” (63); “the protuberances were not from his motion, as they were the same whether in slow or in rapid movement” (69). See also n^o. 137.
I am convinced that the animal, swimming with vertical undulations, usually presses its flappers to its body. Once it was seen from above (82) and it seemed to be eel-shaped, and the flappers must have been invisible, at least they are not mentioned; it swam with vertical undulations.
But there are reasons to believe that the animal, swimming with vertical undulations, at a moderate rate, also uses its flappers. Once it was seen from above, moving with vertical undulations, and its flappers are tolerably well described (119). And when we read: “the motion of his body was rising and falling, the head moderately vibrating from side to side” (48), “the motion of his head was sideways and quite moderate, and the motion of his body was up and down” (48), “his motion was partly vertical, partly horizontal” (69), “serpentine movements, some up and down, some to the side” (91), we must conclude that the animal swimming with vertical undulations may indeed also use its flappers. If only the foreflapper and the hind one of the right side were used, the animal would turn to the left, if, on the contrary, it used its two left flappers, it would turn to the right; consequently when the right foreflapper (leaving for a moment the hindflappers out of consideration) is moved backwards with a strong action, the head must move a little to the left, and it will move to the right, when the left foreflapper is propelled backwards.
The instances in which the animal swims with its body in a straight line, propelling itself only with its flappers, are few in comparison with its swimming with vertical undulations (3, 18, 34, 38, 56, 59, 83, 93, 104, 115, 118, 120, 129, 130, 132, 138, 143, 145, 146, 147, 150, 160, see also figg. 28, 29, 31, 36, 45). The animal in this position resembled some drift of sea-weed (143), a mast of a vessel floating (83), an enormous log of timber floating (83), a trunk of a large tree floating (104), an unwrought spar (18), a long spar (150), a log of wood (150), an immense tree floating (157).
A change in its mode of swimming is sometimes also witnessed, it may be that it first swam with vertical undulations, and then with its body in a straight line, or vice versa (3, 83, 115).
In swimming the end of the tail only (118, 122, 146), or nearly the whole tail (31, 34, 38, 60, 63, 69, 74, 80, 81, 85, 93, 102, 114, 115, 121, 148, 150) is concealed under water and invisible. The flappers are always below the surface of the water and invisible (31, 34, 80, 85, 122, 138, 146, 150), save the above-mentioned four times (118, 129, 137, 148). The head may be held just at the surface of the water (31, 39, 44, 66, 74, 91, 137, 146, 148, figg. 32, 33, 37, 38), so that it sometimes is recorded as not having been visible (41, 113, 114), or may be, and this is generally the case, held above water (31, 44, 51, 63, 83, 91, 97, 128, figg. 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 51). The height above water is said to be but little (94), some feet (70), well above water (150), several feet (155), high (32), considerable (102), quite erect in the air (95), six inches (48, 63), eight inches (44), one foot (38, 41, 42, 92, 137, 138), two feet (9, 39, 63, 80, 138), three feet (63), four feet (17, 19, 29, 60, 118), five feet (19, 29, 60), six feet (60, 74, 97), seven feet (60, 101, 142), eight feet (101), ten or twelve feet (131).
The head may, of course, sometimes be gradually laid down (63), or gradually raised higher (51), is generally held in an acute angle (94), which is of course the case when it is only a few feet above the surface, and the angle becomes the less acute the more the head is elevated; but sometimes the neck is curved (97) in the form of a semicircle (115). The head may be held constantly above water as long as the animal was visible (29, 31, 92, 94, 118), or raised and lowered at intervals (128, 129, 148).
Sometimes, evidently when darting on some prey, the animal raises its whole neck quite stiff in the air: “head and neck stood upright like a mast” (56), “the whole neck raised above water like a snake preparing to dart on his prey” (115), “the animal protruded its head above water to the length of about thirty feet at an angle of sixty degree to the horizon” (126), “a large spar sticking out of the water one end, and some thirty feet above the level of the sea” (132), “it resembled the lower mast of some wrecked vessel, passing rapidly” (132), “darting rapidly out of the water and splashing in again, head and neck to a height of about twenty or thirty feet out of the water” (149, fig. 46), “head and neck reared about thirty feet out of water” (151), “a neck rose out of the water, about twenty feet, moving with great speed” (152), “at first it was taken to be an immense tree floating, but this illusion was soon dispelled as the neck was thrown twenty feet in the air” (160).
When swimming the whole animal is not always above water, but may occasionally dip under without any noise, or disappear with a distinctly audible splash (31, 39, 41, 44, 60, 63, 69, 74, 114, 117, 126, 132, 137, 139, 149, 151, 152, 157).
The speed is said to be: faster than we could row (9), rapid (p. 132, 31, 97, 114, 117, 134, 137), an incredible velocity, like an arrow (p. 134), moderate (29), the greatest rapidity (29), a great rapidity (34, 138), slow (39, 115, 120, 131, 137), much more rapid than whales or any other fish (48), very rapid (63, 69, 132), nearly still (69), very slow (83), very swiftly (94), a great swiftness (101), that of a light boat rowed by four active men (117), very quick (123), at a great rate (137), at a rapid pace (149), a great speed (152), a great velocity (157)--or it was estimated at--two miles an hour (83, 120), three miles an hour (39), four miles (60), ten miles (146), ten to twelve miles (42, 138), twelve to fourteen miles (48), fifteen miles (41, 118, 149), fifteen or twenty miles (35), twenty miles (44, 156), twenty four miles (38), twenty to thirty miles (41), thirty miles (122, 155), thirty-six to forty-two miles (51), sixty miles (43, 50).
The animal may swim for a considerable time with the same speed, steadily and uniformly (48, 118, 134, 138, 146), or decreasing, or increasing it (29, 51, 60, 69).
Of course the animal swimming rapidly propels the water before it, so that the water curls up before its throat (51, 93, 118), or even foams (44, 63, 85, 95, 115, fig. 26), and when it swiftly darts forwards for prey and elevates its flappers above water, the motion of its flappers causes distinctly visible splashes (137, 149, 152, fig. 46, of course in n^o. 129 and 148 the movements of the flappers must also have caused a severe splashing, though this is neither mentioned nor delineated, figg. 36, 45). Also when it drops its neck like a log of wood into the water, an enormous splash or spray on both sides was visible (149, 152).
In the open sea the animal generally swims “as straight forward as you could draw a line” (39, 41, 114, 134), “not deviating in the slightest degree from its course, which it held on apparently on some determined purpose” (118), seldom it is recorded as “taking a turn” (114, 122, 128), but when in a harbour it may move “in several directions” (41), as if “playing” (39, 63, 69, 130), “in circles” (39), or “bringing the body into a letter S” (63, 130). The mode of turning is so characteristic and unique that I feel obliged to repeat all that I have found about it:--“he turned short and quick and the first part of the curve that he made in turning resembled the link of a chain, but when his head came parallel with his tail, his head and tail appeared near together” (39),--“his motion when he turned was quick; the first part of the curve that he made in turning was of the form of a staple, and as he approached towards his tail he came near his body with his head, and then ran parallel with his tail, and his head and tail then appeared near together” (41),--“in changing his course he brought his head to where his tail was, or in fact to the extreme hinder-part visible; raising himself as he turned six or eight inches out of water” (41),--“he turned quick and short and the first part of the curve that he makes in turning is in the form of a staple, but his head seems to approach rapidly towards his body, his head and tail moving in opposite directions, and when his head and tail came parallel they appear almost to touch each other” (41),--“when he changed his course he diminished his velocity but little; the two extremes that were visible appeared rapidly moving in opposite directions, and when they came parallel, they appeared not more than a yard apart” (41),--“he turned very short; the form of the curve when he turned resembled a staple; his head seemed to approach towards his body for some feet, then his head and tail appeared moving rapidly, in opposite directions, and when his head and tail were on parallel lines they appeared not more than two or three yards apart” (44),--“he turned slowly, and took up considerable room in doing it” (69),--“it turned with considerable noise” (117).
When the animal swims, either with vertical undulations, or with its body in a straight line, holding, however, its head just at water-level, so that the nostrils are only above the surface to breathe, it generally shows nearly its whole length, only the very end of its tail being under water. In such a condition it must swim very easily, for the water carries its total weight, so that it is actually null, and the animal in swimming has only to surmount the friction and the resistance of the water made against an object in motion. But as soon as the head is lifted above the surface, the weight of it must immediately be carried by the body. It is therefore not astonishing if an observer states: “its progressive motion under water was rapid; when the head was above water, its motion was not near so quick” (31), “when immersed in the water his speed was greater” (41). It is very natural too, that when the head is held above water, and when consequently the body must carry the weight of the head, the body sinks a little deeper into the water: “his head was now more elevated above the water, and his body more depressed below” (51), and that when the animal has raised its whole neck quite erect in the air, the body has sunk so deep that it is: “not visible at all” (149), and that “the disturbance on the surface was too slight to attract notice” (149). Therefore figg. 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 46, 48 and 49, are tolerably well delineated. Fig. 33 shows us the animal swimming with vertical undulations, holding its head on the level of the water, and having nearly its whole length visible on the surface. In fig. 34 the head is held a little above the surface, and the end of the tail is already below it. Fig. 35 shows the head still more elevated while of the tail nothing more is visible. Figg. 37 and 38 represent the animal floating on the surface, showing the ridge of its whole back. In figg. 46, 48 and 49 the animal’s neck is elevated as high as possible, but its body is of course too deep to be seen.
A few lines above we have spoken of the increased speed of the animal swimming under water. The question arises how was this to be seen; and the answer is given by the eye-witnesses themselves: “I saw it coming rapidly under water” (31), “when moving under water you could often trace him by the motion of the water on the surface, and from this circumstance I conclude he did not swim deep” (41), “we could trace his course under water” (69), “swimming below the surface so that merely a stripe indicated the rapid course” (117), “in swimming under the surface the animal swims not deeply, for on the surface one can trace its course” (126), “and moved away just under the surface of the water, for we could trace its course by the waves it raised on the still sea” (137).
This, however, is not always the case. The animal can swim so deep that its course is not betrayed on the surface. Once “it swum directly under a boat” in which two men were (41), and once “it passed below the boat at the depth of eight or ten feet, swimming slowly with a vermicular motion” (82), which shows us at the same time that it swims under water with vertical undulations. There is, of course, reason to believe that it may also occasionally swim with its body in a straight line; and Captain HOPE saw it at still greater depths swimming evidently with its flappers and with vertical undulations (119).