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Solving A Sea Serpent Mystery of Heuvelmans

Posted by: Loren Coleman on January 11th, 2006

Solution d’un mystère de serpent de mer de Heuvelmans

In Bernard Heuvelmans’s classic In the Wake of the Sea Serpent, he revealed a minor mystery to keen readers. Specifically, on pages 114, 144 and 575, of the 1968 English edition of the book, Heuvelmans briefly mentioned a Sea Serpent sighting from 1782, by British troops at "Bagaduse."

Heuvelmans, within the text of his book, sourced the story with the Reverend Abraham Cunningham. Cunningham related an account, wrote Heuvelmans, of the "British on their expedition to Bagaduse" having seen a "Sea Serpent" reportedly "300 feet long." Heuvelmans considered that size exaggerated, as it stands out as extreme in a time when most Sea Serpents being seen off the coast of America were said to be 40 to 60 feet long.

Bernard Heuvelmans could never track down the location of "Bagaduse," and suggested in his book it might be a misspelling of "Bogalusa." Bogalusa is a landlocked town in Louisiana, which later would become infamous for its KKK (racist) activity.

Recently, cryptozoological author Michael Newton contacted me, mentioning the Bagaduse mystery, anew. Exchanging emails, Mike wrote: "Long story short, while reading Robert Heinl’s Soldiers of the Sea–a history of the US Marine Corps–I stumbled on a reference (p. 9) to a skirmish between jarheads [Marines] and redcoats [British] at Bagaduce Heights in July 1779. Apparently its in Maine, at or near the site of present-day Castine, on or near Penobscot Bay. This fits perfectly with the time frame of Bernard Heuvelmans’s report and also with the rash of 18th century New England Sea Serpent sightings."

As fate would have it, I live in Maine and was one day away from traveling "downeast" to the Castine area. I decided to do some field and local investigations of this Bagaduse - Bagaduce mystery.

The locals, of course, quickly put me on the right track. It was "Bagaduce," not "Bagaduse," and only someone "from away" would make that "wicked silly" mistake, I was told in thick Downeast accents.

So, it appears Heuvelmans had merely repeated an old spelling of the area, or more likely, a misspelling of the location in a retelling of the British "adventure" in Maine. Today, throughout the region as you move in from the ocean, inland from Penobscot Bay, you hear of the "Bagaduce" (not "Bagaduse").

The Bagaduce River flows through the small town of Penobscot and empties into Penobscot Bay at Castine Harbor, about 25 miles northeast of Rockland, Maine. The Bagaduce River is viewed by the locals as an extraordinary body of water that graces the shores of Castine, Penobscot and Brooksville, Maine, well known for its local wildlife. Today, traffic on the river consists of recreational craft, fishing boats, and training vessels of the Maine Maritime Academy in Castine.

The Bagaduce River is in Maine today, but technically, in 1782, it was in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. During the British battle at Bagaduce in 1779, the area was really in Massachusetts. Perhaps this too has confused those seeking Heuvelmans’ mysterious "Bagaduse"?

Maine did not become a state until 1820, the 23rd state to join the United States of America. What is now the state of Maine was, before statehood, called the District of Maine and belonged to Massachusetts.

Heuvelmans gave a hint that the "Bagaduse" sighting belongs in Maine. If you examine his "Chronological Table of Sightings" beginning on page 575, of In the Wake of the Sea Serpent, Penobscot Bay dominates the list around the year 1782.

Sea Serpents were sighted in Penobscot Bay and near Maine in 1751, 1773, 1779, 1780, 1787, 1793, 1794, 1799, 1811, 1817, and 1818. Intriguingly, the vast number of sightings moved from the less populated areas of Downeast Maine to the more densely peopled locations of Portland, Maine, and Gloucester, Massachusetts, during the wave of 1817-1818. Before those two years, Penobscot Bay, Maine was the number one East Coast location for Sea Serpent sightings in the second half of the 18th century.

Portland’s Cassie, as I mention in my field guide on Sea Serpents, may have become more well-known in Maine, but the Penobscot Bay and the Bagaduce beasts were more frequent visitors to the "District of Maine."

The Heuvelmans mystery of "where is Bagaduse" can be filed away now. Onward to the next riddle.

Lake Monster

+ + +

I appreciate working, during this mutual investigation, with Michael Newton, author of Encyclopedia Of Cryptozoology: A Global Guide To Hidden Animals And Their Pursuers . I thank Michael for sharing his insights.

Newton

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 11th, 2006 at 6:28 am and is filed under Books, Breaking News, CryptoZoo News, Cryptozoology, Media Appearances, Sea Serpents. You can follow responses via our RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is not allowed.

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5 Responses to “Solving A Sea Serpent Mystery of Heuvelmans”

Benjamin Radford responds: January 11th, 2006 at 9:51 am
Interesting! Well done, Loren!
earthman responds: January 11th, 2006 at 11:44 pm
The 300 foot serpent could come from a population of animals. Since they were locked into the idea of a serpent, they thought of it as one long animal.
frank norwood responds: January 12th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
Hello

I enjoy your site- your story about Heuvelman’s serpent brought to mind an encounter my father had in the early 1980’s. While it may not be of any significance, it’s one of those stories that should be preserved just in case. And I might forget what I remember about it before I share it!

My father, Laforest Norwood, was a lighthouse keeper (among other occupations) in Nova Scotia. When he wasn’t off on the light he would come home to Westport, Brier Island, Nova Scotia.

A boat builder, and rowing enthusiast, he loved to go for long rows around Brier Island, sometimes around Long Island, and even across St. Mary’s Bay to Metaghan, Nova Scotia.

One summer’s day- and I don’t recall the exact date- he was returning from a row through the passage by Peter’s Light, which is at the southern entrance to Brier Island. Because the current runs upwards of 4-6 knots directly through the passage, he would take an eddy which was very close to the shore of Brier Island. The eddy is very narrow- basically the width of a rowboat with the oars extended, but you can use it to get by the worst of the main current.

The water depth varies in the area where he was rowing, but in one spot where the water was about 10-15 feet deep he observed an animal swimming beneath his boat, in the same direction (roughly north).

My father was probably in his mid-fifties at the time. He had grown up on Boston Light, and fished and worked on the water all over the world his entire life. He was extremely knowledgeable of all types of water-life,- college educated, and as they used to say- “of sound mind and body.”

He described the animal as being about six feet in length, with a body shape similar to a seal but not as round in the middle, with a brownish dark coloration. It didn’t surface for air for the time that he observed it, (several minutes). It’s speed would approximate that of the skiff, probably 2-3 knots under the circumstances,

The most significant part of this incident is not that my father could identify the animal- it’s that he couldn’t!

Although he had a very good look at it, under conditions of shallow, clear water, he was not able say what it was.

I remember asking him:

“Was it a dolphin?”
“No.”
“Was it a porpoise?”
“No.”
“A seal?”
“No.”

When I pressed him on it, his best guess was that it was a mammal of some sort because it appeared to have a fur-type coat, but it was unlike any mammal he’d ever seen. He also mentioned he got the “feeling of intelligence” from the animal. (For what that’s worth- but I personally would never discount the possibility of our having other senses.)

I believe my mother is working with some of his journals and diaries at this time. I will ask if this incident is recounted in any of his writings, and if you’re interested I’ll get more details.

Frank
David R. Garcia responds: January 14th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
Hi! I don’t know if this is the place to post a story about a sea serpent seen by my parents, but i’ll give it a go. My parents sailed throughout the southern Pacific for about 7 years and saw some unusual things. Here’s one story they told me:

On a trip from Samoa to the Lau Group of the Fiji Islands, my parents stopped in Niuatoputapu and nearby Tafahi in the far north of Tonga’s long archipelago of islands. While out sailing between the two islands with a couple of Tongan men on board, all four were dumbfounded to see the most immense creature they’d ever seen surfacing not far from their sailboat. It was a huge sea serpent with a porpoise-like head (not the bottlenose or beaked type) that was about 9 ft (2.75m) wide and high. The visible part of the serpentine body was at least twice as long as their 40 ft (12.2 m) long sailboat. They saw only the head and two curved sections of the body out of the water. So figure a body that is perhaps at least 100 ft (30.5m) long. They said that the body behind the head was a little less wide than the head, maybe 7 or 8 ft (2.1m to 2.4m) wide and had an oval-shaped cross-section. The skin was smooth and grayish in color, like that of a porpoise or whale. It was traveling in the opposite direction from that of their boat and surfaced twice. It seemed to take no interest in them. The Tongans told my parents that their legends tell of such a monster, but this was the first time they’d seen anything like that.

They told me that they were so stunned in near disbelief at what they were seeing that no one had the presence of mind to think about taking a photo.

When my parents cautiously mentioned what they had seen to other yachties in ports like Suva (Fiji’s capital town), there was no shortage of raised eyebrows and questions about what they had been drinking or smoking. My parents never drink alcohol nor do they take other mind-altering drugs, and i can testify that they are meticulously truthful, and hardly given to “fish stories”.

Both they and I also have other stories of strange and unusual animals seen during our days in the Pacific.

Cheer!

david
Vigus responds: February 28th, 2006 at 1:18 am
Here is a link to an article from 1818 that Heuvelmans used that discusses a sighting at Penobscot Bay by Rev. Abraham Cummings in 1809.
pg41 (pdf page 9 of 10).

Vig

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