British scientists have studied a famous 18th century story of a sea monster spotted off the coast of Greenland, and decided that it was probably a thoroughly normal whale - but one possibly caught in a somewhat compromising position.

The story entered the annals of history when it was reported in 1741 by the Danish-Norwegian missionary Hans Egede, known as the "Apostle of Greenland". His son Poul had spotted the creature. The story features in many sea monster books.

Egede's report referred to "the most dreadful sea monster" which blew like a whale, had large flippers, and possessed a tail like a serpent, with "shell work". Down the centuries, varied descriptions of the creature have included a giant squid and giant long-necked seal.

Scientists at the University of St Andrews in Scotland decided that, after some 250 years of conjecture, enough was enough. They set to working out what the sighting really could have been.

Dr Charles Paxton and Dr Sharon Hedley worked with Norwegian Erik Knatterud, a retired teacher with knowledge of marine animals in that part of the world.

Having examined original descriptions closely, they considered various possibilities before deciding that the most likely explanation was that the animal spotted had been a whale - possibly in a state of sexual arousal.

"The species seen was likely to have been a humpback whale, a north American right whale, or one of the last remaining Atlantic grey whales, either without flukes or possibly a male in a state of arousal," reported the scientists. "The grey whale is possible since it would have been quite rare and may not have been recognised by the witness as a whale."

Dr Paxton is described quite seriously by the university as "an expert in sea monsters". He is writing a book on the possible scientific explanations for a series of sea serpent sightings down the centuries.


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