© Mary Evans Picture Library in London‘A large and frightening sea monster seen by several people off the coast of Kilkee, Ireland’. Image from The Days’ Doings, 1871.
An image of Co Clare's sea-serpent - Victorian Ireland's equivalent of the Loch Ness monster - has resurfaced after 144 years.
The artist's impression of the bizarre ocean creature, allegedly spotted off the coast of the resort village of Kilkee, has been found lurking in the depths of a London archive.
The "monster" was the subject of various reported sightings in the 19th-century, including one in 1850 when it was seen, improbably, "sunning itself near the Clare coast off Kilkee".
The most notable sighting was in September 1871, when the "large and frightening sea monster" was seen by several people, who "all had their nerves considerably upset by the dreadful appearance of this extraordinary creature" .
The story first appeared in the
Limerick Chronicle and quickly caught the attention of Fleet Street, where even the
London Times commented on the appearance of the "fabled sea serpent in Ireland".
