Stories from the Archive: The Northumbrian Sea Serpent

Student research archivist Sasha Lawson-Frost discusses the story of a “sea serpent” from the North East Nature Archive

In March 1849, a group of fishermen off the coast of Cullercoats spotted and killed a very rare species of fish. An account of the fish is given in the Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumbria, by Albany Hancock and Denis Embleton. The article begins with a description that reads more like a passage from an old adventure novel than a scientific record:

“The men having started from their fishing ground to return homewards, observed at a little distance what appeared to be broken water; the old man being struck with such a novelty directed his lads to pull towards it; on nearing the spot they perceived a large fish lying on its side on the top of the water. The fish as they approached it righted itself, and came with a gentle lateral undulating motion towards them, showing its crest and a small portion of the head occasionally above water”

‘Account of a Ribbon Fish’ by Albany Hancock and Denis Embleton

The fish they had found was a type of deep-water ribbonfish, which are thought by some to have been the cause of various ‘sea serpent’ sightings in history. This particular fish was over 12 feet long. It is described as having a “brilliant silvery iridescent hue” and a “crimson-rayed fin”, with scales like “the wings of moths”. The fisherman who caught it describes how the fish disappeared “as quick as lightning” beneath the surface of the water.

Shortly after the fish was caught, the Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury ran an article entitled “THE GREAT SEA SERPENT CAUGHT AT LAST”. It describes the fish as a “monster” and a “great unknown” to the scientific world. A few weeks later, it was stuffed and presented at an exhibition in London. A poster for the exhibition exclaims “The Wonder of the Sea! The Gymnetrus Northumbricus or Sea Serpent”.  

Sea monster or scientific discovery?

Hancock and Embleton take, as you might expect, a more scientific approach in their article. They believe that most reported sea serpent sightings are likely due to sharks, whales, and seals. However, they do consider the possibility that this type of fish “may at times [have] deceived the eye of some credulous mariner, from its rapid undulating motion … and leaving a lengthened wake behind it, thus creating an exaggerated idea of its extent”. They conclude that that is “not improbable” that occasional sightings of this fish may have contributed to the faith people have in the existence of a mythical sea monster.

The accounts we find in the press of the ribbon fish as a great marine serpent thus seem to be somewhat exaggerated, presumably for the sake of gaining publicity. But they nonetheless provide us with a valuable insight into how people in this time period understood and responded to the natural world.

The mid-19^th Century was a time of exploration and discovery in nature. Intellectual and scientific societies were flourishing throughout Europe. The increasing availability of equipment such as microscopes and dredging materials meant that more members of the general public were able to pursue natural sciences as a hobby. Natural history as a field was moving increasingly away from a religious tradition to a scientific one – The Origin of Species would be published just 10 years after the capture of this ribbon fish. For many, the natural world was a great source of awe, curiosity, and mystery. With all this in mind, perhaps the difference between a mythical sea monster, and a specimen of a rare new species of fish, is not so clear-cut after all.