The following old newspaper account offers more questions than answers:
THIS SEA SERPENT WAS "ALL LIT UP"
Trenton Evening Times, Trenton New Jersey - 18 March 1908
Phosphorescent Monster Ate Bananas
“March 13. At 8 p.m., Thursday, 22° 06′ north, longitude 74° 21′ west. One-half mile off the starboard bow sighted strange a marine monster. It approached and followed the ship all night. Friday at 9 a.m. monster crossed our bows. Passengers in a panic. Reduced speed to five knots”
– Extract from the log of the Admiral Farragut.
Sitting in the doorway of his cabin, collarless and in his shirt sleeves, Captain Mader of the fruit steamer Admiral Farragut, which arrived this week from Port Antonio [Jamaica], told the story:
“We picked the sea serpent up — or rather the monster picked us up — late Thursday night,” said he. “I was on the bridge when one of the passengers, an elderly man, rushed up and excitedly called my attention to a phosphorescent light several miles astern. At first, I thought it was a new submarine boat. As it came nearer we played the searchlight on it and could see that it was some strange sea monster.“It seemed about 120 feet long and threshed its way through the rough sea at a fearful speed. All night long it followed the vessel and during that time most of the passengers and crew remained on deck. The phosphorescent glow of the monster lighted up the sea within a radius of fifty feet.
“On Friday morning about breakfast time, the serpent swam within thirty feet of the starboard side. The creature resembled a huge boa constrictor, with the exception that its body was green. From its sides streamed seaweed and other marine growth.
“The monster raised its head several feet above the water. It had huge eyes projecting from the top of its head and two green horns that projected upward nearly five feet. The horns resembled large antennae and moved about continuously.
“Three times the serpent crossed our bows and fearing to run it down, I signaled the engineer to reduce speed to five knots an hour.
“Some of the people on board thought the monster was hungry and we threw several sacks of peanuts and a few bunches of bananas. When we arrived off Cape Hatteras late Friday the monster circled around and swam south….”
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Here is another detailed version of the story:
“We picked the sea serpent up – or rather the monster picked us up – late one night,” said he. “I was on the bridge when one of the passengers, an elderly man, rushed up and excitedly called my attention to a phosphorescent light several miles astern. At first, I thought it was a new submarine boat. As it came nearer we played the searchlight on it and could see that it was some strange sea monster.
“It seemed about 120 feet long and threshed its way through the rough sea at a fearful speed. All night long it followed the vessel and during that time most of the passengers and crew remained on deck. The phosphorescent glow of the monster lighted up the sea within a radius of fifty feet. What a “fearful speed” might be is unknown to me, but I would assume that it might be faster, at least, than the speed of the ship. The fact that the sea was lit up to a radius of 50 feet indicates that the plankton was disturbed beyond the “sea serpent” by some means or possessed an extremely bright, artificial light source.
“On the next morning about breakfast time, the serpent swam within thirty feet of the starboard side. The creature resembled a huge boa constrictor, with the exception that its body was green. From its side streamed seaweed and other marine growth. Green is a color commonly found in water UFO cases. The snake-like movements of the object could be attributed to a cylindrical object with the water’s movement distorting its shape into that of a snake.
“The monster raised its head several feet above the water. It had huge eyes projecting from the top of its head and two green horns that projected upward nearly five feet. The horns resembled large antennae and moved about continually. Five-foot horns that resemble antennae are one thing, but to have them “moved about continually” seems more like a mechanical operation.
“Three times the serpent crossed our bows and fearing to run it down, I signaled the engineer to reduce speed to five knots an hour.
“Some of the people on board thought the monster was hungry, and we threw several sacks of peanuts and a few bunches of bananas. When we arrived off Cape Hatteras late that day the monster circled around and swam south.” - Oakland [California] Tribune, March 28, 1908.
NOTE: So, what was it? USO, cryptid creature, type of fish, or what? Your thoughts. Lon
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