Gloucester and Cape Ann — the sea serpent of 1817

OVERVIEW

The Gloucester sea serpent is a creature reported off Gloucester and Cape Ann, Massachusetts. Because hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people reported it, and the Linnaean Society of New England took formal statements, it is among the best-documented sea serpents on record.

HISTORY

The Indigenous people of Cape Ann told the settlers of a sea serpent, and John Josselyn recorded an alleged sighting in 1638. In August 1817 fishermen reported a sixty-foot serpent-like creature with a head like a turtle's; the crew of the schooner Caravan said it swam alongside, and fired at it. The Linnaean Society of New England published a committee report on 'a large marine animal, supposed to be a serpent, seen near Cape Ann'. Sightings continued into 1818–1819 and occasionally into the present century. In 1819 the playwright William Crafts mocked the reports in The Sea Serpent; or, Gloucester Hoax.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

LEGEND. Joe Nickell, from witnesses' reports of a spear-like 'stinger' on the head, concluded it was a narwhal; others have proposed a large eel, misidentified sea animals or a hoax. In 2023 Karl Brandt suggested harpooned sperm whales held fast to overturned whaleboats, trailing debris that looked self-propelled.

VISITING

Public harbour and shore.