Imaginary sea monsters and real environmental threats: Reconsidering the famous Osborne, ‘Moha-moha’, Valhalla, and ‘Soay beast’ sightings of unidentified marine objects

Abstract

At one time, largely but not exclusively during the nineteenth century, retellings of encounters with sea monsters were a mainstay of dockside conversations among mariners, press reportage for an audience of fascinated landlubbers, and journal articles published by believing or sceptical natural scientists.Today, to the increasing frustration of cryptozoologists, mainstream biologists and environmental historians have convincingly argued that there is a long history of conflating or misidentifying known sea animals as purported sea monsters.The present paper provides, for the first time, a detailed, diachronic review of competing theories that have been posited to explain four particular encounters with sea monsters, which at the time of the sightings (1877, 1890, 1905, and 1959) had garnered worldwide attention and considerable fame.In so doing, insights are gleaned about the role played by sea monsters in the culture of late-Victorian natural science.Additionally, and most importantly, I offer my own parsimonious explanation that the observed 'sea monsters' may have been sea turtles entangled in pre-plastic fishing gear or maritime debris.Environmental history is therefore shown to be a valuable tool for looking backward in order to postulate the length of time that wildlife populations have been subjected to anthropogenic pressure.This is something of contemporary importance, given that scholars are currently involved in deliberations concerning the commencement date of the Anthropocene Era.

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