The Valhalla Sea Serpent off Brazil (1905)

The winter of 1905. The steam yacht RYS Valhalla was on her third voyage, owned by James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford. On board were two Fellows of the Zoological Society of London. E. G. B. Meade-Waldo was an ornithologist, known for helping save the red kite in Wales. Michael John Nicoll was the naturalist of the Earl's voyages. Both men were trained observers.

7 December 1905. 10:15 in the morning. The ship's position was recorded as "latitude 7° 14' S., longitude 34° 25' W." Nicoll put it "about fourteen miles from the coast of Brazil." The spot lies off the state of Paraíba. Nicoll later wrote that "a creature of most extraordinary form and proportions was sighted by two of us."

First came the fin. Meade-Waldo saw "a large fin, or frill, sticking out of the water." Nicoll described "a dorsal fin, about four feet long," standing about two feet above the sea. It was brownish-black. It looked like "a gigantic piece of ribbon-seaweed." The two men did not agree on its size, and later summaries of Meade-Waldo's account make it larger.

Then something rose in front of it. "A great neck rose out of the water in front of the frill." Nicoll called it "an eel-like neck, about six feet long," as thick as a man's thigh. On top sat a head "shaped somewhat like that of a turtle." Above, the animal was brownish-black. Below, silvery-white. It was about 100 yards from the ship.

The neck moved. Meade-Waldo said it "moved its neck from side to side in a peculiar manner." Nicoll said it "lashed up the water with a curious wriggling movement." Beneath the surface the men could see "a very large brownish-black patch, but could not make out the shape of the creature." After a few moments, it was gone.

About 2 a.m. on 8 December. The ship was making about 8.5 knots. Her first and third mates saw a large disturbance moving just below the surface. "From the commotion in the water it looked as if a submarine was going along just below the surface." Eventually it sounded, diving off the port bow.

The two naturalists wrote up what they had seen. Their paper, "Description of an unknown Animal seen at Sea off the Coast of Brazil," appeared in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London in 1906. The Society published it as a description and offered no verdict. On 30 June 1906 the Illustrated London News printed a drawing by Nicoll. At least one American newspaper carried the witness quotes that August. Nicoll also told the story in his book Three Voyages of a Naturalist, with a sketch of the animal.

Nicoll had his own view. "I feel sure, however, that it was not a reptile that we saw, but a mammal." He thought it lived in deep water, which would explain why no remains had been found. Bernard Heuvelmans and others also took it for a marine mammal, pointing to the dorsal fin and the head. Elsewhere it has been labelled a "Super Eel" or Type 4B. A giant squid posing at the surface has been suggested, and rejected, since squids do not swim with their fins or arms out of the water. Most scientists explain sea serpents as known animals, such as whales, seen wrongly. Nobody has offered a firm answer for this one.

No photograph was taken. No specimen was found. Yet the case endures. Two trained naturalists. A precise position. A report to a learned society. Heuvelmans discussed it in his work on sea serpents, and Darren Naish treats it as a great classic of the field. It sits beside HMS Daedalus in 1848 as one of the reports every study of sea serpents returns to.