Sea Serpents

[qwerty guy]

I heard a theory about a year or two ago, I think from Hovind or Ham, that they found it funny that for hundreds of years, stories of sea serpents where common and accepted. Then, when ships started using loud engines, and no one saw them anymore, smarty pants people dismissed thousands of sighting as myth from "stupid" people of the past. The theory is that now they avoid ships because of the noise.

Keeping this theory in mind, I've collected some past and modern accounts of sea serpents, including some of the latest discoveries of some huge and weird creatures in the last couple years. Did you know something doesn't exist until an egg head at an accredited university says it does? lol.

I'll start posting some, as time permits, over the next couple weeks. Anyone else able to chip in?

[John81]

There is pretty good evidence that a number of "sea serpents" did in fact exist, and some probably still do, and interacted with humans.

Giant squids, long thought to either not exist or to have been extinct for millions of years :roll have been found alive and well. Not only that, but they fit descriptions given in many accounts of encounters with sea serpents.

As well, I've read of encounters with sea creatures that were likely of the "dinosaur era" variety the 'experts' tell us died out millions of years ago.

Considering the proof out there that dinosaurs and humans once interacted on land, it should come as no shock that large sea creatures and humans have interacted over the past few thousand years as well.

Another great topic; glad you started this thread and look forward to your postings! :thumb

[Anon]

Alot of "mythology" is based on fact, even "fire breathing dragons" (See Job.). I am sure there were many marvelous creatures before and even after the flood. And the very depths of the ocean are nearly as difficult to study as outer space so we just never know what lives that deep, esp if they hide well or are scarce.

[qwerty guy]

Quote from a 10 year old book: "The idea of an octopus holding a man, let alone a ship, in a viselike grip is largely fiction. The largest Alaskan species has a radial span of 32 feet. Most are smaller"

Really?

By Kim Griggs
in Wellington, New Zealand
line
What is thought to be the biggest octopus ever found has been caught in waters off New Zealand.

Dr Steve O'Shea, NIWA
Marine biologist Dr Steve O'Shea estimates the specimen, which was damaged when fished up, would have measured four metres in length and weighed 75 kilograms.

"That's a conservative estimate," Dr O'Shea told BBC News Online. "It is an absolutely massive octopus."

The incomplete specimen has a mantle length (the standard measure of length in octopus and squid) of 0.69 metres, a total length of 2.9 metres and a weight of 61 kg.

Not a squid

Octopus (Haliphron) had previously been thought to reach a mantle length of only 0.4 metres and a total length of 2 metres.

So squids get bigger, and look enough like octopus to confuse scientists at times? So how big can a squid get, enough to attack a ship?

July 11, 2007?In the mystery surrounding one of the sea's most elusive creatures, this body is more of a clue than a victim.

One of the largest giant squid ever found washed up on a beach in southern Australia yesterday, offering potentially crucial insights into the animal's habits and habitat, scientists said.

The squid was discovered on a beach late at night on the western coast of Tasmania (see map of Australia).

Biologists who inspected the squid said it weighed some 550 pounds (250 kilograms) and stretched 26 feet (8 meters) from head to tentacle?about as long as a school bus.

But the beast might have been even longer when it was alive, because the tentacles appeared to be badly damaged.

"It's a whopper," Genefor Walker-Smith, curator at the Tasmanian Museum, told the Reuters news service.

How big where ships back when people said they would be attacked?

Of the three ships, only the Santa Maria was built with a deck, and it was a much slower, heavier ship, with a keel that was about 115-feet long (35 meters). Both Nina and Pinta were about 50 feet long (15 meters). All three ships were armed. The Nina sailed under Vicente Yanez Pinzon, and the Pinta sailed under his brother,

At 50 feet wide, that's what, about 20 feet wide tops? hmmmmmm

The Mars, 1701-1712, measured 118 feet long, but only 31 feet wide

the Starrenberg, 1702-1707, measured 112 feet long, 31 feet wide

50 years later, ships got bigger, now the Castor is up too 136 feet long, 37 feet wide

Ships back in the days of sails where not some big tankers like people think of now. Even if a giant squid only gets to 30-40 feet, pictures like this are possible:


This one would only need to be within that 30ft range


This one would need to be more like 60 feet... 50ft tenticals going in each direction to span the ship long ways. Did they get this big?

Lets not discount, that "starkey's squid" washed up on shore and measured 175 feet long, that's long enough to encompass a ship as long as 300 FEET!!!
Another one that washed up, named Thimble tickle squid, was 55 feet long, big enough to encompass a ship as long as 100 feet, just like the ships in 1800 and prior.

Even a squid or octopus of 30 feet, could wrap fully around a 30 foot wide ship. Just like giving a hug.

I find it fully possible and probably likely, given how every animal known to man goes weird at times, usually during mating season, that now and then a ship found it'self wrapped up by one of these creatures. When you see a news report of someone being attacked by a bunny rabbit, or deer smashing into a house, lions that hunt humans for sport, why would it be odd for a creature of that size to now and then grab a big floating thing in the ocean?

Of course, don't forget, all these sailors of the past where imagining things, none of these existed until the 1990s when science said they did.

[John81]

:thumb I love these types of things!

[qwerty guy]

One of the problems with things like this is who can witness them?

When ships would disappear in the middle of the ocean, how do you know if it was from a storm, bad craftsmanship, or a giant squid eating them. All you know is, it never was seen again.

Then again, there are a couple of instances where someone was found floating on a sjunk of wood, or found on an island, and their story is one of surviving at sea after their ship and most of the crew where killed by a giant sea monster. Although their report is made, it's usually followed by a note that they have gone mad. Rolf.

If these creatures used to take down ships, why don't they now? Look at ships now. Once ships got big enough to survive something like this, they are also no longer wind powered. Big engines making lots of noise bang away. We may have simply stopped hearing of sea monsters when the day came they ran from this very loud noisy thing in the water.

That is, until the last decade or so, as we've now progressed to vessels capable of going very deep into the ocean, and are starting to find that yes, there are HUGE creatures down there.

Science won't believe something unless they have seen it, that is, unless they are talking about a monkey turning into a human. Just because thousands of people through history have said they saw these creatures, science ignored it until they themselves said they exist, and we're suppost to accept the title of "new discovery" on the top of the page. Rolf, come on.. new? There are drawings of these things going back over a thousand years. The real title should be: "science catches up to 1000 years behind"

[IM4given]

Are you trying to say there are no such things as strange creatures of the deep like the Loch Ness Monster?



What about the huge lake creature that lives in the Great Lakes in Michigan?

[Madeline]

The Bible does of course talk about great creatures of the deep. The Hebrew word for these is taniyn, and it is variously translated by the lexicons and dictionaries depending on the context (Gen.1:21; Ex.7:9-12; Deut.32:33; Job 7:12; ; Ps.74:13; 91:13; 148:7; Is.21:7; 51:9; Jer.51:34; Ezek.29:3; 32:2). As we can see from looking at these references (esp. Gen.1:21), rather than being specific the term seems to be somewhat generic, and as such could encompass all manner of giant sea creatures/serpents. Thus the word may comprise only those creatures of which we are aware or it may also include some of which we are presently ignorant. So beyond this, I don't see anything that can be derived specifically from scripture about the existence or non-existence of hypothetical creatures not presently included in the scientific "inventory".

Love,
Madeline

[heartstrings]

I heard a theory about a year or two ago' date=' I think from Hovind or Ham, that they found it funny that for hundreds of years, stories of sea serpents where common and accepted. Then, when ships started using loud engines, and no one saw them anymore, smarty pants people dismissed thousands of sighting as myth from "stupid" people of the past. The theory is that now they avoid ships because of the noise.

Keeping this theory in mind, I've collected some past and modern accounts of sea serpents, including some of the latest discoveries of some huge and weird creatures in the last couple years. Did you know something doesn't exist until an egg head at an accredited university says it does? lol.

I'll start posting some, as time permits, over the next couple weeks. Anyone else able to chip in?

I don't know if I would go along with that theory on account of many animals become accustomed to load noise etc. over time. I live by a railroad and have observed deer, grazing without paying any attention to passing trains or passing cars. Dolphins regularly ride the bow waves of ships. Whales and large sharks come near ships.

[Alimantado]

What about the huge lake creature that lives in the Great Lakes in Michigan?

What on earth is in that picture? Whether or not you believe in sea monsters, surely we can all agree that there has never existed a serpent that sported a mullet. At least not until the 1980s.

[heartstrings]

"Monster" What does the word mean?
If you were in a small wooden ship, around 3000 or so BC, and you saw a 25' 3,000lb great white shark swim up to your boat....would that qualify as a monster? What about a 60' spermwhale? 45' whale shark? 100' blue whale, or a giant squid? In ancient times, wild animals, especially huge or dangereous ones, were worshipped as gods. There was little or no scientific knowledge of them so they were truly monsters. Hey...a 2000lb Nile Crocodile, or a huge shark to the ancients, were monsters.

A sailfish sometimes folds his dorsal fin backwards, could that resemble this highly stylized illustration? Sailors also beleived in "mermaids" which is claimed to have derived from sighting "sea cows" or manatees. Do you believe in mermaids and unicorns?

[Alimantado]

A sailfish sometimes folds his dorsal fin backwards' date=' could that resemble this highly stylized illustration? Sailors also beleived in "mermaids" which is claimed to have derived from sighting "sea cows" or manatees. Do you believe in mermaids and unicorns?[/quote']

It wasn't my highly stylised illustration, it was IM4given's, and I was just pointing out that the monster looks like it's wearing a mullet. So you think a sailfish also looks like that do you? Let's see:
[attachment=0]
Hmm, don't see it myself!

[heartstrings]

I know you didn't draw it. Looks like one of the many map illustrations made during the 15th and 16th centuries.
Here are some "Sea Monks"




A 16th century rendering of a "hippocampus"


Yes it looks about as close to a sailfish as a mermaid does to a manatee....wouldn't you say?

[Guest Guest]

The problem with old drawings like that is most were drawn from descriptions and not by eye witnesses. Thats where those crazy drawings come from. Who even knows if the original description was correct. :lol:

[heartstrings]

Absolutely.