List of sea serpent sightings in the Indian Ocean (1914–1945)

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The following is a list of alleged and circumstantial sea serpent sightings reported from the Indian Ocean and its marginal seas between 1914 and 1945, a span of time identified by Bernard Heuvelmans as the Wartime Period.

Tropical Indian

W. S. Arthur (Melville Island, 1916)

Inspired by early reports of the Loch Ness monster, in late April 1934, longtime Australian sailor W. S. Arthur wrote to the Sydney Morning Herald, recalling an encounter which he and a trawler skipper, Ned Baxter, allegedly had during a trip to Melville Island, off Australia's northern coast, on the King's Birthday in June 1916.

“

About 6.30 pm, most of the men were laid out in the boat in thwarts, and in the bottom of the boat. Baxter was sitting in the bow keeping a lookout for a reef marked on our chart called the Elphinstone Reef, in Latitude 11 degrees 10 South, and long 131.25 degrees E, about 5 miles from Cape Fleeming, Melville Islands [N.E.] point. I was steering with the big sweep oar, when Baxter shouted out to me "Whats that just astern there?" I turned sharply, thinking it was rocks when to my surprise, and not more than 30 feet from me, appeared a huge head about 6 ft out of the water, and with 5 or 6 large parts of its body in a straight line with a division between each of them, reaching in all at least 40 feet. As it came nearer I lifted the blade of my oar as high out of the water as I could and tried to hit it on the head, which by this time was only a foot out of the water. I missed hitting it, but felt a hard sudden jerk on my oar blade which nearly knocked me over the side. I grabbed the sheet of the sail, or I must have gone over. I looked around again, but could only see its wake windward to our boat. I found 4 teeth, 3 on 1 side and 1 on the other broken off deeply into the ash oar. We extracted them from the oar and kept them as souvenirs, 2 of which are still in my possession.

”

Paul Cropper and Malcolm Smith, finding the account convincing, argued that Arthur's description fit closely with the merhorse and the longneck. Their attempts to trace the whereabouts of the teeth extracted from Arthur's oar proved fruitless.

Back Bay (1921)

Rupert T. Gould received a letter describing a sea serpent seen in Mumbai's Back Bay, in India, but the letter-writer, fearing that his reputation would suffer if he publicly claimed to have seen a sea serpent, insisted that his name should be withheld. He claimed that he had seen the animal while sailing in Back Bay in a small boat, in October 1921.

“

The upright neck stood some 10 feet, I should say, perpendicularly from the sea surface, tapering very slightly towards the head. The diameter of this column appeared to be about 18 inches near the water. It seemed to be covered with large scales and, in colour, was a light olive green at the back, shading off to a dirty yellow in front. The head was like that of a gigantic tortoise, or turtle, but any body to correspond with that head and neck would be, at least, fifty feet long, I should judge.

”

Bernard Heuvelmans described this animal as "unusually serpentine," and suggested that, like some other Indian sea serpents, it could have been a python which had wandered out to sea. Alternatively, he classified it as a possible father-of-all-the-turtles, a controversial Heuvelmans type which appears to be a giant sea turtle. If the animal was a turtle, and its body was not serpentine in form, then the witness' estimate of its total length would not have been accurate.

Bali (Sri Lanka, 1922)

As in the preceeding International Period, several sea serpent sightings in the tropical Indian Ocean were recorded in the logs of Dutch Navy ships during the interwar years. The first of these accounts, all of which were preserved in the archives of A. C. Oudemans, was an entry in the log of the steamer Bali, which was off the southern tip of India, west of Sri Lanka, on 31 October 1922. The fourth officer, P. Kruyt, entered the sighting into the log.

“

At about 4.30, about half a mile to port, the water began to be very disturbed until a little later there appeared in the same place an animal with a head and neck recalling a a giraffe's but larger. The monster remained visible for about two minutes, and then dived back into the water head first. After which nothing was to be seen except that there were many birds above the place were the beast had disappeared. The serpent was about the same thickness everywhere, of circular section, the head ending in a blunt point. Its thickness wa reckoned at about 18 inches, and the visible part about 15 feet long. It was grey-green in colour.

”

Kruyt's depiction of the Bali sea serpent, redrawn by Monique Watteau.

Kruyt made a drawing of the animal in the log, depicting it with eyes placed well behind the mouth. Because only the neck and head were seen, Heuvelmans classified the Bali sea serpent as an "ambiguous periscope," a possible longneck or super-eel.

Mapia (Socotra, 1923)

Fourth officer H. J. Van Houhuys recorded a brief sea serpent sighting in the log of the steamer Mapia, then some miles east of Socotra in the Arabian Sea, on 11 February 1923. Heuvelmans classified it as a possible many-finned sea serpent.

“

11 February at 4.15 p.m., I was on the starboard deck with the second officer, A. de Wild, when we were startled by a violent blow on the water. It was so close to the port side of the ship that we could not see what it was nor exactly where it had happened. When we dashed to port we heard another violent splash (louder even than that made by a dolphin leaping out of the water) and we saw, some 30 yards away, a colossal sea-animal disappearing below the surface. It was about 6 feet thick, cylindrical, and as far as we could see it was 8 feet out of the water. It was shining, half light grey and half brown.

”

Bengkalis (Simeulue, 1928)

Countersigned by Captain J. F. Straakenbroek, first pilot J. R. A. Swaan of the steamer Bengkalis recorded a sea serpent sighting in the log on 15 August 1928, when the steamer was west of Simeulue, off the Indian coast of Sumatra. The witnesses, watching from a distance of around four hundred yards, initially took the object for a large tree trunk, but Swaan, observing through binoculars, determined that it was a living animal.

“

We saw through binoculars that it was not a tree-trunk but a living creature which moved, and of which some four portions of the body (probably the back) were above water (see diagram). These portions did not look like fins: they shone in the sun, they were smooth and not very arched, and their colour was very like that of a seal. Suddenly there rose out of the water a party which looked like a big round branch, about 2 feet in diameter and 6 feet long and making an angle of 30° with the sea; the end was rounded (see diagram). Slowly this part dived under the water again, while the sea became very disturbed. Nothing in particular could be seen on this portion out of the water–nothing in the shape of eyes or anything similar–and the colour was the same as that of the other parts. The distance by then was 250 yards. The quartermaster, who was from the British East Indies and was at the helm, also saw what had appeared in the sea, without my drawing his attention to it, and cried: 'Barra machli (big fish).'

”

Swaan's depiction of the Bengkalis sea serpent, redrawn by Monique Watteau.

Swaan also made two drawings or "diagrams" of the sea serpent in the log of the Bengkalis. Although Heuvelmans referred to this as a "string-of-buoys" (i.e. many-humped) sea serpent, he ultimately classified it as a longneck.

Oronsay (Cape Guardafui, 1928)

In 1934, in response to an article showcasing several alleged photographs of the Loch Ness monster, W. P. Jones of Queensland wrote to Sir Edward Mountain, the article's author, describing a sea serpent he had seen off the Horn of Africa six years previously. Jones and his wife were passengers on the Royal Mail ship Oronsay, which was rounding Cape Guardafui in Somalia on 23 April 1928. According to Jones, that afternoon a pair of sea monsters were observed by thirty or forty of the passengers.

“

I was speaking to the Dispenser of the Oronsay and discussing the buildings on the barren cliffs of the Cape when my attention was drawn to what appeared to be a huge fishing net with tremendous floats ahead of us on our port bow. I drew my friend's attention to it and binoculars were produced by the Dispenser and we witnessed a remarkable sight. There were two of these large monsters apparently just lying on the surface of the water approximately a mile from our boat. They appeared to take no notice of us and we steamed past them and obtained a first class view of them. The knobs protruding above water were solid and not coils as your snaps might suggest. The animal in the front clearly showed a snakelike head much bigger than the thickness of its neeck. No head was apparent on the second one which was lying immediately behind its mate about 200 yards in the rear.

”

Jones' letter ended up in the archives of A. C. Oudemans. As with the Bengkalis sea serpent, Heuvelmans initially called the Oronsay sea serpent a "string-of-buoys" type, but classified it differently; in this case, as a many-finned sea serpent.

Largs Bay (Aden, 1934)

Crew or passengers on the Australia ship Largs Bay, which arrived at Southampton in May 1933, told the press that they had seen a sea serpent off Aden during the voyage. They claimed that it had, on two occasions, breached or spy-hopped about a cable's length from the ship, exposing 20' of its body, "like an elongated fish ... [with] a bulging head, the circumference of which was greater than the body. A long spike or tongue projected from the snout."

Southern Indian

Lake St. Lucia (1933)

In July 1933, G. P. Court of Hluhluwe, South Africa, wrote to the press to describe a "monster" he had seen in Lake St. Lucia, an estuarine lake connected to the sea, in Natal. He and a party of several others, including farmer George Higgs, his four children, two Zulu servants, L. Esmonde-White, and Jack Nicolas, were on a fishing expedition to the lake earlier in the month, when, during the night of 7 July, their attention was attracted by a commotion in the water, which they initially assumed was being caused by hippos.

“

We all rose to look at them. I took my field glasses to get a better view. To my amazement I saw floating in the calm water under a strong moon a long undulating dark body about 30 yards in length. The head and shoulders were similar to those of a hornless ox. The long body, which lay 'S' shaped, appeared to be two feet broad. It was lying at right angles to the beach, and facing our camp. Mr Esmonde-White had his field glasses on the creature also, and confirmed my opinion. Mr Higgs, who has hunted hippo for forty years on this coast and had a pet hippo on his farm at one time, after loooking through the glasses, said that hippo did not keep behind one another like that. They would also be making a noise... About 30 minutes later the creature disappeared by sinking deep beneath the surface of the lake, which at this spot averages about five feet deep...

”

Two of George Higgs' sons, Robert and Peter Higgs, had also seen "a long, black, snake-like creature," some thirty yards long, during the previous night, swimming slowly and silently in the lake around three hundred yards from the beach. Heuvelmans classified these animals as possible super-eels.

Chitral (1933)

When the famous yachter John Scott Hughes referred to a sea serpent sighting of his own in the Observer, in 1953, a number of fellow sea serpent witnesses wrote to him to share their experiences. One of these was Lilian Rawlings, who claimed to have seen such an animal while travelling home from Japan onboard the P. & O. liner Chitral. Although her memory of the specific time and place was hazy, she was almost certain that the sighting took place in April 1933, in the Indian Ocean.

“

The bell (gong) had gone for lunch. Nearly all the passengers (2nd class) had left the deck, only a few of us remained, leaning on the rail. Then I saw something moving, parallel with the ship, in the same direction (apparently only a few yards from the ship but that I was not competent to judge) a small head on a long neck sticking out of the water and behind the neck a gap and then a hump–the whole seeming to be about the length of our ship. (It would be absurd I think not to assume that the humps belonged with the neck and head, especially as they moved with it.) We watched for (I should guess) from anything from a minute to a minute and a half and then the whole thing quietly sank out of sight. I expected a fuss to be made of what had been seen ... But I heard nothing of it ... When I saw the beast, and realized I was looking at a creature which was generally supposed not to exist, I had the sensation that it was not so very wonderful after all, and that, having once seen it, I might see it again and that others would. Once assured of its existence, my mind accepted the fact and god rid of its astonishment immediately.

”

Heuvelmans, who found Rawlings' account "very convincing," classified the sea serpent as a definite longneck. According to him, Rawlings had probably greatly exaggerated the animal's size, and she herself admitted that she was "not competent to judge" its distance from the ship. Rawlings was able to acquire two other unpublished accounts sent to Hughes for Heuvelmans' study.

Portland Bay (1935)

In June 1935, the Australian press reported that a sea serpent had been seen within the last week by two boys near Portland, past Blacknose Point at the southern end of Portland Bay, in Victoria. They first took it for a school of porpoises, but when it came closer to the beach to swim parallel with the shore, and the boys climbed to higher ground to get a better view, they saw that it was something unfamiliar. They later described it as 80–100 ft (24–30 m) in length, "slaty blue" in colour, with a 15–20 ft (4–6 m) long neck, ending in a giraffe-like head held high in the air. It had a dorsal fin and a fluked, whale-like tail, with "slaty grey" stripes. When it turned away from the shore and moved out to sea, it kept its head and neck high in the air for several miles, hitting the water with its tail. Smith classifies the animal as a longneck, and argues that the description indicates that this type of sea serpent is not a pinniped.

Umtentweni (1939)

A European and several Africans reported seeing a large sea serpent off Umtenweni, south of Durban in South Africa, in July 1939. They allegedly saw it raise its head around 10 ft (3 m) out of the water before diving, revealing "portions of its massive body ... of a girth equal to that of a bullock." They guessed that it measured more than 100 ft (30 m) in length.