Following Captain Jenkins' report of his encounter withthe serpent, newspapers published many drawings of
the monster, of which the above was one.
Killing' of the Sea Serpent
Hid Capl«iiii Jenkins and liis crew really
kill this monster off tlie eoasf of North
C arolina? Hell, they elaiinetl they did. and
the serpent was seen no more.
ABOUT a hundred years ago,
owners of ships that plied
the waters of the Atlantic
Coast were greatly worried.
The cause of their worry lay in
the stories of a monstrous sea
serpent that was reported to have
been seen on numerous occasions
in the vicinity of Cape Hatteras.
Naturally, the ship-owners placed
no credence in these fantastic tales,
but sailors did, and. as a result,
many men refused to ship aboard
vessels that had to pass the cape.
This denizen of the deep, some
said, made his abode many fathoms
under water among the hulls of
sunken ships on the ocean floor off
treacherous Diamond Shoals. Many
sailors swore that they had seen
the gruesome creature swimming
far out at sea off Hatteras.
Described as a formidable sea
monster about 125 or 150 feet long,
with a gigantic head somewhat of
the same appearance as that of a
rattlesnake, the serpent always
swam with his fearful looking
countenance held live or six feet
out of water. When angry, he
would whip the sea to fury like a
tropical storm, and he made a
sound like the hiss of escaping
steam which could be heard for
miles. He was truly terrible to be¬
hold, even when he was swimming
along lazily in the distance, his
THE STATE, OCTOBER 21. 1950
By EARL DEAIM
great bulk rising and falling with
the motion of the waves.
Whenever a wreck occurred off
the coast of North Carolina, credu¬
lous seafarers immediately blamed
the sea serpent. Before signing up
for a cruise, they would first as¬
certain whether the vessel was go¬
ing to pass Hatteras. If they found
this to be the case, they firmly re¬
fused to go.
Prospective passengers began to
manifest the same dread, as also
did shippers of weight, and the
ship-owners began to take stock of
their dwindling revenue with real
concern Something surely had to
be done about it, they all agreed;
but what?
Then along came a Yankee skip¬
per by the name of Uriah Jenkins,
who announced that he would
make a special trip with a picked
crew to the coast of North Caro¬
lina and cruise those waters until
the serpent was encountered.
Captain Jenkins’ ship was named
the Belle of Bermuda, and she
sailed from .New York in the sum¬
mer of 1850. Several weeks later
the Belle returned to her home
port with as thrilling a story as
could possibly be imagined. Here
it is:
While 18 or 20 miles at Sea off
Diamond Shoals, the sea serpent
was sighted in the distance, swim¬
ming along slowly and apparently
unaware of the vessel that kept
drawing closer and closer. Men
lined the sides of the ship, armed
with powerful rifles. Taking aim at
close range, they opened fire and
sent a death-dealing volley of lead
into the hideous creature’s long
neck. The reptile writhed arid
twisted in pain, lashing the water
with its long body. Another volley
was fired. And then, with a terrible
hissing sound that made all aboard
the Belle of Bermuda shudder with
fear, the monster dived deep into
the ocean and came up floating on
its back, almost dead. The sea was
stained a brilliant red for a con¬
siderable distance. More bullets
and a couple of shots from tin-
ship’s cannon finally finished him
off.
In describing the serpent. Cap¬
tain Jenkins said that it was ap¬
proximately 225 feet in length and
must have weighed a ton or more.
The conquest of the serpent
made the headlines on the front
К
of most of the papers pub-
in that day and time, and
contemporary artists drew fan¬
tastic pictures of the fearful
< Continued on page 30)
7
