An account in Gloucester, Massachusetts

I, John Johnston, jun. of Gloucester, in the County of Essex, of the age of seventeen years, depose and say : That on the evening of the seventeenth day of August, A. D. 1817, between the hours of eight and nine o’clock, while passing from the shore in a boat, to a vessel lying in the harbour in said Gloucester, I saw a strange marine animal, that I believe to be a serpent, lying extended on the surface of the water. His length appeared to be fifty feet at least, and he appeared straight, exhibiting no protuberances. Capt. John Corliss and George Marble were in the boat with me. We were within two oars length of him, when we first discovered him, and were rowing directly for him. We immediately rowed from him, and at first concluded to pass by his tail; but fearing we might strike it with the boat, concluded to pass around his head, which we did, by altering our course. He remained in the same position, till we lost sight of him. We approached so near to him that I believe I could have reached him with my oar. There was not sufficient light to enable me to describe the animal. JOHN JOHNSTON, jun. Essex ss. August 25, 1817.

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This is a sworn deposition, given before a Justice of the Peace in August 1817 and published that year by the Linnaean Society of New England. The deponents were interrogated separately on the same twenty-five questions. The pamphlet is in the public domain and the text is verbatim from it, save for scanning artifacts.