Sea Serpents, Sailors & Sceptics

Originally published in 1978 Sea Serpents, Sailors and Sceptics looks at stories of folklore and mythology which have fascinated sailors from antiquity to the modern day. From stories of large unauthenticated sea creatures to the Loch Ness Monster, documented sightings are vast and the book provides a concise survey and review of the subject of ocean folklore. It shows how some large sea creatures, such as the giant squid, have been established and addresses some of the explanations of sea serpents and other sea creatures as now known, categorised species and offers a classification of these species that have formulated the mythologies of the sea throughout time. The book discusses how relatively little is known about the sea still and offers a practical look at the possibility that these mythological creatures, might in fact be, as yet undiscovered species. This book provides a unique interdisciplinary volume, crossing between the area of literature and folklore, and natural historians alike, and will appeal to academics working in the field of natural history and folklore alike.