ABSTRACT
One of the first sightings of the twentieth century was in 1901, though it did not come to light until 1947, when one of the witnesses, Charles Seibert, sent a description to the Saturday Evening Post. The letter was one of many sent in response to an article in the paper by Ivan T. Sanderson, called ‘Don’t Scoff At Sea Serpents!’ In May 1901 the steamer Grangense was on passage from New York to Belem, and one fine morning the officer of the watch shouted ‘My God, look there!’
Looking as directed we saw some sort of an amphibian, grayish brown in color. The forward part, which was all we could see, was similar to the monster illustrated in the Post; however its neck was not so thick or long. Its head was a trifle longer, more like a crocodile’s. When it opened its mouth, we could see rows of regular teeth, maybe four to six inches long. It appeared to be playing on the surface, and would swirl in circles, bending its neck until it looked towards its tail, if it had one. It would gambol for maybe half a minute, then dive. This it did three times. We asked the captain if he was going to log the encounter. His reply was, ‘No fear. They will say we were all drunk, and I’ll thank you mister, not to mention it to our agents at Para or Manaus.
