The Daedalus Serpent is not so much a species of sea serpent but rather a single, and rather famous, sighting of an unclassified creature. This particular sighting was made by Captain McQuhae and several officers and men of the HMS Daedalus in August of 1848 during a voyage to Saint Helena in the South Atlantic. As the report goes, the vessel sighted what they described as enormous serpent, between the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa and their destination, the island of St. Helena, a British Territory.

The serpent was reported to have been swimming with four feet of its head above water and what they believed to be an additional sixty feet of the creature still in the sea. Captain McQuhae also noted that the creature moved very quickly, but passed by so close under the ships lee quarter that hit it been a man of his acquaintance he would have easily recognized his features with his naked eye. According to seven members of the crew it remained in view for around twenty minutes, an officer even wrote that the creature was more of a lizard than a serpent.

This sighting caused quite a stir in the London papers, and Sir Richard Owen, the famous English biologist, proclaimed the beast to be an elephant seal. The Daedalus Serpent has since been classified as a Super Eel or Type 2C animal. Another skeptical suggestion for the sighting proposed that it was actually an upside down canoe, or a posing giant squid.

The Evidence

There is currently no physical evidence to support this sighting by the Daedalus in 1848.

The Sightings

In August of 1848, during a voyage to Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, Captain McQuhae and several of his officers and men witnessed what they described as a large sea serpent.

The Stats– (Where applicable)

• Classification: Sea Monster
• Size: 64 feet long
• Weight: Unknown
• Diet: Unknown
• Location: Atlantic Ocean between St. Helena and the Cape of Good Hope
• Movement: Swimming
• Environment: Atlantic Ocean