Unfortunately, even the above sighting appears to contradict two of your suppositions. To wit:

1. In this instance, the vessel from which the alleged sighting was made is identified as “the STEAMER William Seabrook” – obviously not a quiet sailboat but, rather, a “noisy” steam-powered ship.

2. As corrick pointed out; even back then ships such as the Wm. Seabrook tended to follow established shipping lanes.

I do however share your view that the vastness of ocean, coupled with relative lack of mid-to-deep water exploration, leaves plenty of room for large creatures to dwell undiscovered, as of yet, by science.

The original 16mm Kodak Cine-100 home movie camera that Patterson used was a rental so it can never be examined and tested. This point is critical since that model, the the 16mm Kodak Cine-100 home movie camera was notorious for its inaccuracy of film speeds. (Look it up). Patterson stated he normally filmed at 24 frames per second, but didn’t remember the camera’s setting that day. It also had settings of 32, 48, and 64 frames per second but those settings aren’t relevant, just the only one lower than 24, at 16 frames per second.
Analysis after analysis by believers and skeptics alike always echo what John Napier wrote long ago. “If the movie was filmed at 24 frame/s then the creature’s walk cannot be distinguished from a normal human walk. If it was filmed at 16 or 18 frame/s, there are a number of important respects in which it is quite unlike man’s gait.” Why he mentioned 18 fps back then is a mystery to me unless he was also aware of that particular cameras notoriety for frame speed inaccuracy.
So since the exact camera used by Patterson can never be examined, whether it was at 14,15,16,17,18 or 22,23,24,25,26 frames per second there are actually TEN different versions of the Patterson-Gimlin film and all ten are equally likely to be the genuine speed. You want to believe? Then you choose the lower speeds or if you’re a skeptic you choose the higher ones. However, without the original camera no one will ever know know which of the ten possible speeds is true. Not the believers, nor the skeptics.
Interesting? Fascinating? Compelling? For sure. But without the camera, it’s forever inconclusive and strictly in the eye of the beholder skeptic and believer alike.

My 50 cents.

Today there are more oceanic sailboats that at any time since about the 1890′s. The vast majority of sea serpent sighting since that time have been from noisy motorized steam & oil powered vessels. Regular “shipping lanes” are not some modern invention. That’s how mankind has always traveled when given a choice.

My theory about to the decline in sea serpent sightings coincides with the rise of modern media as in books, television and global communication. Unlike most sailors and people of the past who had to rely on first hand experience, knowledge of animal appearance, even obscure ones became far more widespread eliminating many misidentifications. So too has the days of unchecked journalistic when fantastic stories were made up simply to sell papers. Pardon the pun, but many, many old sea serpent accounts when researched simply don’t hold ay water.

Case in point, your specific 1800′s example. Might be wrong that it was Karl Shuker, but that case has been thoroughly research. A hoax.

Not saying, there isn’t something unknown in the world’s oceans largely behind some sea serpent accounts, but weak excuses do nothing but cloud the waters.

We didn’t just haphazardly create the product or produce it overnight. It’s taken a lot of time and a lot of money to develop the product and the brand and our hope is to get more and more people to open their eyes to the possibilities.

Every hoaxer having one would not affect the pursuit to eventually prove the existence of Sasquatch.

Also, gridbug, most people love being skeptics. It’s easy to follow the rat pack and dismiss things that we simply cannot wrap our brains around. Most people in our society are pessimistic and refuse to open their minds.

I want to believe and want more people to end up believing…the worlds a whole lot more fun when you think that there may very well be Bigfoots out there!

Please know that we are in this for the long term and are not out to simply make a quick buck. This is my passion and we would appreciate our fellow Bigfoot enthusiasts support.

My name is James Villepigue and I am a public figure in the fitness realm. I’m doing this because I LOVE everything there is about the Bigfoot niche. I am not a guy who’s climbed out from the woodwork. Please Google my name to see my work and understand that I will do everything I can to turn people into believers. Thanks for reading.

Best,

James

@ Peteyweestro, to answer you question, we must be critical of evidence, not to criticize the poster, but to test what is presented in order to form a conclusion.

Online, many of us are overly critical, to hide a fear of being had, or to look intelligent, but in the end we are left to draw our own conclusions about what is presented.

I am mistaken for a close-minded skeptic often because the great majority of what is presented is suspect.

The only evidence I find compelling is the PG film, which I think is safe to put in your category 3.

Does anyone have any evidence they find to be truly compelling besides the Patterson film?

I’m talking evidence that doesn’t make you go “hmmm, maybe”, but evidence that makes you go “holy crap, now I have re-evaluate how much of my accepted universe is a complete lie.”

Anybody got any of those?