What happened
Hans Egede, a Norwegian Lutheran pastor in Dano-Norwegian service known as the “Apostle of Greenland,” founded a mission on the island in 1721 and later the colony of Godthåb, today's Nuuk. He left one of the oldest detailed descriptions of a sea serpent. On July 6, 1734, as a ship was sailing off the coast of Greenland, the people on board reportedly saw “a most terrible creature, resembling nothing they had seen before.” The monster raised its head so high that it seemed to reach above the crow's nest on the mainmast. The head was small and the body short and wrinkled; the creature moved by means of enormous fins, and later the sailors also saw its tail. The whole animal was said to be longer than the ship. The description entered 18th-century natural history literature and was cited many times by sea serpent researchers.
Witnesses
The crew and passengers of the ship on which Hans Egede was sailing; the account was written down by the missionary.
Explanations and hypotheses
The most likely explanation is considered to be a giant squid, whose arms and fins could have given the impression of a head and tail, or a whale seen in an unusual position. In 2005, Charles Paxton's team even proposed that the sailors saw the penis of a male whale, which would fit some details of the description. Because the account is brief and nearly three hundred years old, it cannot be settled conclusively.
Disputed A likely explanation exists, but some of the facts are still disputed.
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