Daniel Webster's Sea Serpent

Loch Ness sort of has sea serpents locked down, but the South Shore has a pretty good serpent story.

Ours was "witnessed" by no less than Daniel Webster.

You can read all about it right here.

Daniel Webster And The Sea Serpent was written by Stephen Benet. He also wrote The Devil And Daniel Webster, where Webster goes to trial against the devil for the soul of a farmer. Benet had a Daniel Webster man-crush, or at least an author-crush.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

In this fictional story, Daniel and his friends are fishing for cod off of Duxbury Beach when Daniel gets something on his line that pulls "like a pair of steer."

Eventually, a vast sea serpent arises, shakes out the hook and charges the boat. Some men cower and one man faints, but D Web just stares it down. It goes away, and the men- to save their reputations- agree to not speak of it.

The serpent then haunted Green Harbor, letting out an eerie cry that drove local livestock mad with fear.

Hoping to prevent it from eventually killing a local, Webster armed himself and headed to the mouth of the Green Harbor River. The beast appeared, and Webster gave it both barrels. The creature sounded, her fate unknown.

Webster heads to Washington, where he is to negotiate a treaty with the British. However, he hears the sea monster again, this time coming up the Potomac.

He sends back to Marshfield for a local eccentric who claims to know the monster. The local speaks to the leviathan, who is female, and finds out that she loves Daniel Webster.

Webster, fearing monsterly retribution, enters into a relationship with the beast. I assume it was platonic. He'd bring her fish every day, Italian sardines.

Before he can sever the courtship, his treaty enters into jeopardy. The British have a powerful Navy and are threatening to use it. Webster takes the Brit to meet the monster, who prefers to be called Samanthy. She is large enough to reduce London to rubble. This revelation moves the naval treaty along quite nicely.

He inducts Samanthy into the US Navy, with a rank of Rear Admiral. She patrols the seas, and is seen with Teddy Roosevelt's White Fleet in the South Seas. Samanthy is even credited with helping out with the Monitor. As she ages, reports come in about her having 7 children.

They all fly Old Glory.