Commander Pearson of the HMY Osborne reported a strange creature that was seen on June 2nd of 1877. It is known as the Osborne Sea Serpent - named after the ship whose crew witnessed it. Several of the crew members reported what they had seen. Pearson claimed to have been too far away for a detailed report but he did describe a seal-like head, a large body, and “large flappers”.

Lieutenant Douglas Forsyth, however, wrote: “At 5 p.m. on the 2nd inst., while passing Cape St. Vito, north coast of Sicily, I observed a large, black-looking object on the starboard quarter, distant about two cables [a ‘cable’ is about 240 yards]; and on examining it with a telescope, I found it to be a huge monster, having a head about fifteen to twenty feet in length. The breadth I could not observe. The head was round, and full at the crown. The animal was slowly swimming in a south-easterly direction, propelling itself by means of two large flappers or fins, somewhat in the manner of a seal. I also saw a portion of the body of the animal, and that part was certainly not under forty-five or fifty feet in length."