Water Horse Sightings
Water Horse sightings were reported regularly during the 18th century, but it was not until the 19th century that sightings were starting to get listed:
- In 1846, Captain Christmas of the Danish Navy reported sighting "an enormous, long-necked beast pursuing a school of dolphins" somewhere between Iceland and the Faroe Islands. He described the creature as having a horse-like head and a neck as thick as a man's waist "moving gracefully like a swan's".
- At 5pm on August 6, 1848 an officer of HMS Daedalus noticed as unusual-looking animal swimming towards the ship. It was said to look similar to a sea serpent with a four-foot-long neck. Its head was about 15 or 16 inches long. It was reported to have no visible fins/flippers or tail showing and it had what appeared to be a horsy mane on its neck with seaweed washed over its back.
- In autumn 1883 two horse-headed beasts, one of them smaller than the other (suggesting or implying a juvenile) off the southern coast of Panama. The crew of American whaler Hope On reported seeing a 20-foot-long creature submerge. It was brownish coloured with black speckles and four legs/flippers with a tail "that seemed to be divided into two parts" (implying the whale-like tail appearance) and all four limbs and tail were exposed when it reached the surface. A second creature that looked just like it only much smaller tagged along behind it. In the same year, a sighting of a similar-looking creature occurred in the Bristol Channel. This creature was reported as leaving behind a greasy slug/snail-like trail.
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