The Daedalus Sea Serpent

In the winter of 1848, her majesty's ship HMS Daedalus was making her way from Cape Town to the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic ocean.  On August 6th, 6 members of the crew sighted an huge animal approaching the ship, which then passed through its wake continuing on to the southwest.  The Captain swore to the Admiralty that what they had seen was a sea serpent perhaps 60 feet long.   To date this report remains one of the most credible and well documented sightings of this mysterious and mythical animal ever recorded.  But was this creature what the men claimed it be, or was it an animal known but at the time little understood?  Let's find out!