Sea Serpents
Sea Serpent of the “Genuine” Variety Makes Its appearance and Pursues a Luckless Swimmer
Special Dispatch to The Call— San Rafael, Nov. 8.—A “genuine” sea serpent has made its appearance off the shore of Sausalito and as a consequence E. H. Shoemaker, superintendent of the Narrow Gauge Railroad, has given up swimming in the cooling brine.
Several days ago Me. Shoemaker had the distinction of holding close communion with the monster of the deep. It was a race for life and the railroad man won.
For years Mr. Shoemaker has been in the habit of taking an occasional swim in the bay at Sausalito. While thus engaged several days ago his attention was attracted by the warning cries of some men in a nearby boat. At that instant a dark object surged past him like a submarine boat. Mr. Shoemaker struck out for the shore. The monster circled around him, passing back very close to the now rapidly swimming man. As Mr. Shoemaker reached the shallow water on the beach and looked back he beheld a sight that made his blood run cold. The strange sea creature, whatever it was, was directly behind him, snapping its alligator-like jaws and struggling to reach him.
Mr. Shoemaker says it was not a shark. It was about twenty feet long and had a head exactly like an alligator, with great jaws filled with heavy teeth.
The good people of Sausalito are well up on both land and water sharks and most other sea monsters, but this freak of the ocean is a “new” one to them.
—San Francisco Call, November 9, 1901
“Sea Serpent” Reported At Bodega Bay
San Francisco, March 6.—(UPI)—Estimates of length ranged from 20 to 80 feet, guesses as to color jumped from the robin’s egg blue of San Quentin’s hanging room to the dark brown of a morning after, but of one thing, all concerned were certain today—the “sea serpent” is back at Bodega Bay on the Marin shore off Point Reyes.—Santa Ana Register, March 6, 1934
“Sea Serpent” Is Captured By SD Fisherman
San Diego, Cal., May 13.—It’s not a big one like the Loch Ness monster, but San Diego today claimed a “sea serpent” of its won—alive and in fighting trim.
Jim Oliveri, skipper of the fishing boat Latin Jem reported the strange creature, captured when he pulled up a rock bass trap. It is a four-foot something with a blunt, snake-like head and sharp teeth.
A long fin reaches from its gills to the tip of its tail on both top and bottom sides. The back is dark brown, with mottled spots. Its disposition is ugly.
—Santa Ana Register, May 13, 1936
Serpent Yarn Unraveled
Martinez, Cal. (UP)—At least one sea serpent tale has been thoroughly and rationally debunked. “Minnie O’Mallery,” the local sea serpent on the occasion of its second appearance, was shown to be merely six sea otters swimming in a line.—Santa Ana Register, January 21, 1937