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International Sea Serpent Reports

Solution of the Phenomenon of the Sea Serpent.

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW)
Date: April 30, 1831
Page Number: 4

The public were amused for some time, a few years ago, by the tales of brother Jonathan, respecting the huge sea serpent. Without at all disputing the existence of creature of that nature in the ocean, I have little doubt that a sight I witnessed, in a voyage to the West Indies, was precisely such as some of the Americans construed into a "sea serpent, a mile in length," ageeing as it did with one or two of the accounts given. This was nothing more than a tribe of black porpoises, in one line, extending fully a quarter of a mile, fast sleep ! The appearance certainly was a little singular, not unlike a raft of puncheons, or a ridge of rocks; but the moment it was seen, some one exclaimed (I believe the captain), "Here is a solution of Jonathan's enigma !" and the resemblance to his "sea serpent" was at once striking.

— United Service Journal.

Jonathan's Enigma Solution

Brother Jonathan was a fictional character created to personify the entire United States, in the early days of the country's existence.