DAEDALUS SEA SERPENT DENOUéMENT?

One of the most famous sea serpents on record is the mystifying marine beast observed swimming alongside the British frigate HMS Daedalus for a while on 6 August 1848 by several members of this vessel’s crew, including Captain P McQuhae (who later provided a written account), while they were journeying between the Cape of Good Hope and the island of St Helena. The huge sea serpent was seen with its head reputedly out of the water and also with a visible back fin. The head was described as being “long, pointed, and flattened at the top, perhaps ten feet [3m] in length, the upper jaw projecting considerably”. McQuhae was convinced that the creature was an enormous snake. However, in his sea serpent classification system published during the 1960s, veteran cryptozoologist Dr Bernard Heuvelmans categorised it as a giant seal.

Now, after studying the case in detail, evolutionary biologist Dr Gary J Galbreath has proposed a new identification: namely, a sei whale Balaeonoptera borealis (a baleen species up to 64ft/20m long). This, he suggests, was seen feeding in the traditional manner for its species – with its long, flattened, pointed head and upper jaw extending upwards above the water surface while the lower jaw remains entirely hidden below the surface, thus enabling the whale to skim small surface-dwelling organisms inside its capacious mouth. There is no doubt that a sei whale behaving in this manner does provide a close visual correspondence with the mystery beast as described by the Daedalus observers. My concern with it as a conclusive explanation, however, is that as the latter persons were experienced seamen, surely they would have witnessed this activity before, and would have recognised it for what