From the Depths...
The sloop General Jackson reported to newspapers a very odd phenomena it encountered off the East coast of the United States. The ocean seemed to be bleeding. The sloop was sailing along in light wind and the sea was a beautiful transparent blue when up ahead they could see the water was discolored. Getting closer they were alarmed that a large area of water was mixed with blood. It looked brick-dust or ochre red. Some places there were large spots and other places small spots of red. Captain Christie and his crew were unsure what to make of the peculiar sight.
Wounded Sea Serpent?
As far as they could see into the water the reddish discoloration was coming up from the deep depths of the sea. It rose to the surface almost in branches resembling maybe a willow or poplar tree. Speculation was that the blood might be originating from a wounded sea serpent. Just the day before along the East coast, Captain Rich had allegedly harpooned a sea serpent and it got away. A notice had been given to mariners to keep a lookout for the carcase of the sea serpent. However, there was no sign of any creature in the vicinity, not a whale, shark, octopus or sea serpent. They didn’t have an technology at the time to determine what they saw was actually blood or some red mineral venting from the deep.
Reference:
Morning Post, Friday 09 October 1818, pg. 2.