Episode 15: Sea Monsters
Fear of anything is often misplaced for what is truly fear of the unknown.
Are you scared of the dark, or maybe what lay hidden in the darkness?
From the first time a human dipped their toes in the ocean, we have been fearful of what lies beneath that glimmering surface. From Greek myths to Icelandic sagas and in Chinese folklore. stories from around the world tell tales of terrible monsters in the sea.
These creatures continue to hold a fascination over us today and appear in movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean and The Meg. The Kraken is one of the most infamous of all sea creatures out there - I mean there’s even a rum named after the devilish beast. The Kraken is even written about in the scientific works of Aristotle.
SHOW NOTES:
Squid or Kraken?
Some of the finest minds in history believed the kraken to truly exist. And the truth of it is, the ocean is a mystery to us. Humans know and have seen much more of the surface of the moon and mars, than the ocean, which is right here at home.
Over 80% of the ocean remains unmapped, unseen, and unexplored. Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish naturalist who established the natural history classification that we still use today, included the Kraken in the first edition of his Systema Naturae in 1735.
Sea Serpents
Sea serpents appear in many different folklores around the world but are particularly common in Scandinavia. Scientists were always sceptical about these creatures, they seemed childish, silly even, just some common folk lore. This all changed in 1848 when HMS Daedalus was on its way to St Helena and spotted what the crew thought could only be a sea serpent.
Reports reverberated in the press around the world. This phenomena sparked a renewed interest in scaly creature and many more sightings were reported, many of questionable origins.
Captain Ahab
So it’s probably not surprising almost all anecdotes of fearsome attacking whales tend to come from whalers – men who were hell bent on killing whales to get their oil. And while yes, whales tend to be a peaceful and benevolent animal, occasionally, when pushed to the brink in an act of self-preservation, a whale would turn on its pursuers and attack their boats.
The whale that attacked Ahab and his crew, to them, was a monster. And when the whale attacked, he relentlessly pursued, not giving up.
If you don’t know how the story ends…well, I suggest you go and watch the movie “In the Heart of the Sea” starring Chris Hemsworth. It tells the story of what inspired Herman Melville to write one of the most famous novels of all time.
