TWO SEA SERPENT SIGHTINGS in FRENCHMAN BAY - AUTUMN 2003 These accounts reported by correspondent John Nicolai
	This would be the second sighting of two.  The first sighting was too far from his boat to give precise details concerning the description.  The second sighting last fall was very close, and he said that the creature came up 9 times. His boat is 34' long and he thought that the animal was at least as long as his boat.  They could only see about 15 to 20' out of the water but he was sure that the body was much longer judging by the ripples it produced swimming.    He said that the swimming pattern was similar to the movement of a snake.  The diameter of the body was close to the size of a 55 gallon drum.   The animal at one point started a quick rolling (12 to 15 rolls) motion, got smaller and smaller and then disappeared.  He never saw the head, but his sternman got a real good look at it, and described the head as much smaller than the body, and it looked like a rotweiller.  The coloration of the body was a slimy brown and the speed at which it swam was slow.  His typical work day is about 6 to 9 hours.  The nine sightings occurred between 9am and 2:30pm.  Sea condition was flat calm and he was in 160 to 180' of water.  He mentioned that it looked like a big snake, no fins, with a tail that resembled the tail of an eel.  I asked him about humps and he said no humps. As I mentioned before, it's a big concern that their fishing grounds would be in jeopardy if ever an "endangered species" was discovered, thus putting them out of business.  It's the main reason these fishermen don't talk about these things. The gentleman I talked to is in his 70's, and seemed very credible, but also very cautious of the scientific world.  These fishermen often deal with Department of Marine Fisheries scientists, and they don't see eye to eye on a lot of things, especially when it comes to creating new regulations they don't think are necessary.  It so happens that Maine lobstermen are the best at what they do, and they know what to do to preserve their resource for future generations.  They hate the government meddling in their affairs, and I can understand where they're coming from.  Even so, this fisherman is keeping a camera on board his boat in case of another sighting, and he told me that if he got a good picture, he would share it. He did tell me an unusual story of a school boy that asked him not too long ago if he saw strange animals while he's out fishing.  He told the story of the creature, and the very next day a young boy completely out of breath, came running up to him, saying that he saw a story on "Unsolved Mysteries" a few weeks back that described the exact same thing that the fisherman had seen.  He was pretty impressed by the boy's story.
		The is the account of a lobsterman by the name of Scotty of a sighting October 1, 2003 in Frenchman Bay. Scotty saw two animals.  The first one came within 50 to 75' of his boat and the one following was about 100 yards behind it.  When he saw the fin at first, he thought it must be the "biggest Cusk he'd ever seen" but then noticed how long the body was and knew that this had to be something very different.  The fin covered the whole length of the body that he estimated being about 16 to 20' long and the tail was on the surface until it dived.  He noted that the ribs of the fin were very noticeable and rose about 10" above the body.   It's movement through the water was eel or snake like, and the body may have been the diameter of a 30 gallon drum.   As it approached Scotty's boat it lifted it's head out of the water and scared the sternman (second witness on board) who asked Scotty to "let's get outta of here!".  The description of the head was "that it looked like the head of a giant Monkfish", but after talking to the lobsterman who gave us the first account , he agreed that a Rotweiller's head  would be a better description. One thing that did surprise Scotty was that, when it dived, it did so very gracefully, with no splash and the second animal followed it down.  He never saw the head of the second one come out of the water.  He tried seeing it swimming underwater but it went too deep.  The color of the body was a yellowish brown but the head was quite a bit darker and disproportionately big compared to the size of the body.  The tail looked like that of a Cusk's tail.  The depth of the water was 30 to 32 fathoms. Remember I told you that the first fisherman who had heard of Scotty's account made fun of him......well he came to apologize to Scotty after he saw the animal with his own eyes (along with his sternman).