Case file · Cryptid
The schooner Pearl 'sunk by a squid'
In May 1874 The Times printed a report that passengers on the steamer Strathowen had seen a giant squid attack and pull under the schooner Pearl in the Bay of Bengal.
1874 CE · 8.00, 86.00 · status: legend
The account
The story, with the Pearl's captain describing how he fired on the animal and it seized the ship, was reprinted around the world and is a staple of kraken books. Position approximate (Bay of Bengal).
The sceptical view
No record of a vessel named Pearl being lost that way has been confirmed, and the story is now usually treated as a sailor's yarn or a newspaper invention.