Case file · Cryptid
The Pauline's serpent and the whale
On 8 July 1875 the crew of the barque Pauline, off Cape São Roque in Brazil, said they saw a huge serpent coiled twice around a sperm whale and dragging it under.
1875 CE · -5.22, -35.00 · status: account
The account
Captain George Drevar and members of the crew swore to their account before a magistrate in Liverpool in January 1877, giving the position as about 5°13′S, 35°W. Dutch zoologist A. C. Oudemans included it in 'The Great Sea-Serpent' (1892).
The sceptical view
A sperm whale fighting a giant squid, with the squid's long arms seen above the water, fits the description better than a serpent.