HMS Daedalus (1826)

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The Daedalus sea serpent of 1848
The Daedalus sea serpent of 1848
Another of the original illustrations
Another of the original illustrations
For other ships of the same name, see HMS Daedalus.

HMS Daedalus was a nineteenth century warship of the Royal Navy.

She was launched as a fifth-rate frigate of 46 guns in 1826, reduced to 20 guns in 1840.

In August 1848, Captain McQuhae of the Daedalus and several of his officers and crew (en route to St Helena) saw a sea serpent which was subsequently reported (and debated) in the Times of London. The vessel sighted what they named as an enormous serpent between the Cape of Good Hope and St Helena. The Serpent was witnessed to have been swimming with four feet of its head above he water and they believed that there was another sixty feet of the creature in the sea. Captain McQuahoe also said that "[The creature] passed rapidly, but so close under our lee quarter, that had it been a man of my acquaintance I should have easily have recognised his features with the naked eye." According to seven members of the crew it remained in view for around twenty minutes. Another officer wrote that the creature was more of a lizard than a serpent.

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