Danish Serpent Sighting:
When the Danish (Norwegian) ship the Margaretta arrived in Scotland, the crew went to the local magistrate and swore under oath that what they saw about 15 miles East of the Isle of May was true. In an hour of perfectly calm weather the crew of the Margaretta saw about a mile away three grayish mounds in a row that rose out of the water. They were convinced that what they saw was a huge sea serpent.
What was Observed
They did not observe a head or a tail to the creature, but it certainly was huge in length. As soon as a wind came up the serpent sighting disappeared under the waves. The British Chronicle newspaper made a rare effort to include a small image with the newspaper article to demonstrate the three mounds that were seen in the distance by the crew of the Margaretta. The vast major of news articles never had a special accompanying image, so this was a bit of an event for the newspaper to include one just for this particular story. As late as 1855, there were still news stories talking about this early Danish sighting of a sea serpent. Although Jens Anderson and Mads Jenson were very sincere in their claim, there does seem to be some problems with the sighting.
Problem with the Sighting
The problem with the sighting isn’t whether the Margaretta was a real ship. There were other newspaper articles to corroborate the existence of a ship sailing for Norway/Denmark called the Margaretta. What strikes me as a likely explanation of the peculiar sighting is that the Margaretta crew witnessed a mirage not a sea serpent. The middle hump was the Isle of May. The left and right humps of the serpent were the edges of the Firth of Forth bay where the Isle of May was situated. The word mirage did not start coming into use until around 1803; this would be nearly twenty years after the Margaretta sighting. Common knowledge of the phenomenon of ocean mirages probably was not understood until well into the 19th century. So it is quite likely that the Margaretta’s crew did not understand what they were seeing, but they definitely really saw what they thought was a sea serpent and would swear to that fact. An important clue that it was a mirage was that the water was perfectly calm. This would have been an ideal condition for a mirage to have occurred.
References:
The Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, Volume IX, Look-Mouke, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991. - The history and definition of the word Mirage.
The British Chronicle, 31 August 1786, pg. 1 - Original Sighting by the Margaretta.
Derry Journal, Wednesday 26 September 1855, pg. 4. - Reference to the August 1786 Margaretta sighting of the three mile long sea serpent.
Sheffield Register, Yorkshire, Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire Universal Advertiser, Saturday 28 July 1787, pg. 2. - Reference to the Margaretta sailing to Norway.
Norfolk Chronicle, Saturday 17 June 1786, pg. 2. - Reference to the Margaretta arriving at port.