It was 1820 in Augusta, Ga.
It was a mild September day, much like this.
But winter was coming, Better start chopping wood.
That’s what a laborer – we don’t his name – was doing on the bank of the Savannah River when he saw something he’d only seen in picture books.
“Sea Serpent” said the headline The Chronicle.
And here is its account
“This monster of the deep has at last made his appearance in Sav. River. He was discovered coming up about 5 oclock on last Thursday & was witnessed by several respectable citizens,” the paper reported.
“The creature appeared in the river below Augusta and frightened a man chopping wood, then disappeared beneath the water as others rushed to the riverbank to see it.”
Now this is still in the early days of America and consumption of alcohol by working men was not nearly as restricted as it is today. So we might smirk a bit … but four days later … it was back!
“Sea Serpent Caught!!!” a new headline read.
The story beneath it added this:
“A large concourse of citizens was attracted to the Sand Bar Ferry on Thursday evening to witness the monster of the deep, whose arrival in our waters was announced last week.
”In endeavoring to force himself over the shoals, he foundered, and laid high and dry, exposed to the entire observation of a vast multitude.
I can’t tell you much about people in the 1820s, but I can tell you they didn’t like snakes anymore than we do.
They took appropriate frontier action.
They attacked.
According to The Chronicle, the crowd set upon the monster and subdued it.
And then, they wanted to show it off.
The newspaper says it was “rolled it into town – ‘alligator style’ *whatever that is* The triumph was now complete and a general shout announced it.
BUT WHAT WAS IT?
We know it was so big that they had to roll it into town.
We know that they called it a sea serpent, so we sort of know what it looked like, but it obviously puzzled the town.
According to the Chronicle, “a number of distinguished Naturalists are now busily engaged in examining this nautical phenomenon. It is stated, but upon whose authority we know not, that three Expresses to Doctor Mitchell of New York, left this City at 12 oclock, last night, upon this important subject.”
However, Doctor Mitchell’s response was never reported.
Longtime Chronicle fishing editor and outdoor writer Bill Baab thinks it might not really be a serpent at all.
Bill said he’s fished the river for many years and never seen anything like a sea serpent. Maybe a sturgeon, he said.
Maybe something else.
It’s mystery for history. And history ain’t saying.
