UFO Map

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Cryptids

Sea serpents and sea monsters

Sea serpent reports made it into ship’s logs and newspapers throughout the 19th century – some were made under oath by naval officers. The ocean still hides unknown species: the giant squid was first photographed alive only in 2004. Mysterious carcasses, so-called globsters, usually turn out to be decomposing sharks or whales.

cases
7
years
1734–2004

Unexplained: 2 Disputed: 1 Explained: 4

  1. 18th century

    1. 1734 Sea serpents and sea monsters · Disputed Hans Egede's Sea Monster off Greenland Waters off the west coast of Greenland, Greenland A Dano-Norwegian missionary recorded that people on a ship saw a monster that raised its head higher than the crow's nest and was longer than the whole ship.

  2. 19th century

    1. 1808 Sea serpents and sea monsters · Explained The Stronsay Beast Stronsay, Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom After a storm, the sea cast up on an Orkney shore a decaying carcass almost 17 meters long with three pairs of “legs” – Scottish naturalists declared it a sea serpent.
    2. 1817–1819 Sea serpents and sea monsters · Unexplained The Gloucester Sea Serpent Gloucester Harbor, Cape Ann, Massachusetts, United States For several weeks, residents and fishermen of Gloucester watched a huge humped serpent in the harbor – a learned society took sworn statements from witnesses.
    3. 1848 Sea serpents and sea monsters · Unexplained The HMS Daedalus Sea Serpent South Atlantic between the Cape of Good Hope and St. Helena The captain and officers of a British warship watched a giant sea serpent for 20 minutes as it swam right past the ship – The Times published their report.

  3. 1920–1929

    1. 1924 Sea serpents and sea monsters · Explained Trunko, the “Fish Like a Polar Bear” Beach at Margate, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Witnesses saw a white creature fighting orcas off the Natal coast – then the sea cast up its headless, “hairy” carcass with something like a trunk.

  4. 1970–1979

    1. 1977 Sea serpents and sea monsters · Explained The Zuiyo Maru Carcass Pacific Ocean east of Christchurch, New Zealand A Japanese trawler hauled up a reeking carcass with a long neck and four flippers off New Zealand – a “plesiosaur fever” broke out in Japan.

  5. 2000–2009

    1. 2004 Sea serpents and sea monsters · Explained First Photographs of a Live Giant Squid Pacific Ocean off the Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands, Japan Japanese researchers lowered a camera to a depth of 900 meters and became the first to photograph a live giant squid in its natural habitat.