I have been fiendishly working hard the past month to meet the deadline for my next book, which popped up as being available to preorder a couple of months ago only increasing the anxiety to get it done. Which I managed to do, but it was not without turning my mind into a dubious mush. So for the past couple of weeks I have been detoxing through copious amounts of cross stitching and reading for pleasure once again! But the urge to tackle weird history has hit once again and you are treated to 18th century sea monster shenanigans.
“During my stay in Lapland, I made all the enquiry possible as to the existence of the aquatic animals, called Kraakens….”
The author of the above sentence, Capt. Charles Douglas (from the catchy title “An Account of the Result of Some Attempts Made to Ascension the Temperature of the Sea in Great Depths, Near the Coasts of Lapland and Norway….”), was an up and coming Captain in the British Navy in charge of one of His Majesty’s ships. As an officer of the crown he took it as his duty to play cryptozoological investigator.
Douglas was going off the work of Danish pastor and natural historian Erik Pontoppidan and his work The Natural History of Norway (English translation published in 1764). A rather subdued 18th century work that really delves into ALL the natural history of Norway, spending a volume and a half talking about wildlife, flora, and weather conditions before suddenly veering hard left into cryptozoology. Out of nowhere you find yourself knee deep with in depth discussions on mer-men, sea-snakes, and Kraken. These are the pages that clearly interested and inspired Douglas and sadly not the chapter on exsanguinous fish.
In his report, Douglas uses the term Stoor Worm, while all throughout Pontoppidan’s work he calls these things Sea-Snakes. Stoor Worm is a decidedly Scottish name for the same creature (think Loch Nest Monster - a ginormous snake shaped sea creature). Pontoppidan actually goes into great detail in The Natural History of Norway describing these creatures, since there seemed to be no shortage of Norwegian fishermen willing to cough up their encounters.
The cherry being the cute illustration he provides of this adorable sea-monster (see above). Douglas knew of it as well in its Scottish form, and referred to it as such, which shows that he had previous knowledge of the folklore of Stoor Worms, Sea Snakes, serpents, etc.
Maybe not so uncommon for a Scottish sailor but still pretty alarming for an officer to be openly reporting. Compared to even today where military personnel are just now, slowly, being more open with their possible UFO sightings.
A couple fun tidbits from Pontoppidan’s account of Sea Snakes. First, they were dangerous and were often associated with the sinking of vessels or just snatching sailors from their ships. They were big, girthy creatures with the largest reported being roughly 150 feet long and 6 feet thick.
Sea Snakes get horny at certain times of year (go through a mating season) and since ships are the only other large thing on water they follow them about with aphrodisic intentions. A.K.A. Ship Fuckers:
The Sea-snake seems also to be, like the Shark, Eel, and Whale-kind, viviparous. It appears that they seek their mates at a certain time of the year, in order, as it is said, to couple. For this reason it is supposed they follow ships and boats at those times, which probably appear to them to be creatures of their own kind.
So maybe Moby Dick didn’t have a grudge against Ahab after all. He was just horny for the Pequod.
Beyond any structural damage the sea snake’s lovemaking can cause a vessel, their ejaculate has been known to be poisonous:
In remote parts of Norway, according to some accounts, people have been poisoned with the excrements of the Sea-serpent, which are often seen here, especially in Nordland, in the Summer months, floating on the water like a fat slime. This viscid matter is supposed by our fishermen to be somewhat vomited up by them, or else their sperm, or some other humour. If a fisherman finds this matter near his net, and inadvertently lets any of it touch his hand, it will occasion a painful swelling and inflammation, which has often proved so dangerous as to require an amputation of the limb
The Kraken though remained elusive, and neither Douglas or Pontoppidan could offer up any reliable information on these mysterious creatures, but that did not stop people from giving them a bunch of names like Kraxen or Krabben or Horven or Soe-Horven or Anker Trold.
Pontoppidan provides very little firsthand accounts on the massively mythical octopus-like creature relying mostly on fisherman’s accounts (known to be sooooo accurate) of mysterious rises in the ocean floor and pockets of fish above those elevated areas, as well as reports of mysterious floating and disappearing islands.
They are either eating, giving off a strong odor that attracts fish (thus the connection to the awesome fishing holes), or they’re shitting, which is used to explain the “thick and turbid” (I learned a new word!) waters in areas of the sea around Norway. The logical conclusion being Kraken.
However, one myth around the Kraken that Douglas effectively disproved was that of the whirlpool or maelstrom. Made famous in the 19th century by the likes of Edgar Allen Poe and Jules Verne, who used whirlpools to whisk boats to the shadowy depths. Real whirlpools aren’t quite so powerful, but the most powerful ones do occur in and around the sea of Norway.
Primarily the Saltstraumen and Moskstraumen maelstroms. According to Pontoppidan the lowering of the Kraken into the water is what causes these whirlpools, and another thing that Douglas investigates on the King’s pfenning. Focusing on the Moskstraumen, Douglas reports back from local fisherman really isn’t all that far from the truth that the narrow passage the water passes through during the tides and the irregular shape (rocky nature of the ocean floor) all work together to cause these agitations in the water. Boom! Whirlpool mystery solved!
Douglas would go on to have a distinguished naval career seeing prominent action at the Battle of Saintes during the Revolutionary War. While beliefs in Kraken and Sea Snakes has dwindled and dwindled being pushed out to the fringes, but not so far that lake monsters become tourist attractions and Kraken getting utilized for hockey team names.
The Lemuria train keeps on chugging along. Go order yourself a copy of Lemuria: A True Story of a Fake Place if you haven’t already done so. Or even if you have ordered one go ahead and get yourself another one! I was on the fantastic Hightailing Through History podcast recently where I talk about the GOAT lost continent and learning all about the Great Emu War.
Sources
The Natural History of Norway - Erich Pontoppidan
Sources of the Maelstrom - B. Gjevik H. Moe & A. Ommundsen (Nature, V. 388, 8.28.1997)
‘Ungovernable Fury’ - NASA Earth Observatory
The Scottish Antiquary or Northern Notes and Queries (Vol. V) - A.W. Cornelius Hallen (ed.)