Eyewitness T. M. Armit drew this sketch of what he had seen in July 1876. He had witnessed the creature as he was on a voyage from Panama to Peru, specifically while the ship passed by Ecuador's Santa Elena Peninsula. Armit submitted his story to a newspaper along with his sketch.

"We were on board the disabled ship Colombo, of Greenock, and were being towed from Panama to Callao, in July, 1876. The sea was very smooth, and when nearly abreast of Guyaquil a solitary wave arose alongside six or eight feet above the main rail amidships. While wondering what could have caused such a phenomenon, we were greatly surprised to see a creature rise slowly out of the water until it stood from twenty-five to thirty feet above the sea at a distance of three ship lengths astern. The neck appeared to be three or four feet in diameter, and gradually swelled toward the water to double that size. We gazed at it for fully ten minutes, when it slowly retired below. We saw nothing in the shape of fins or feet about it..."