Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed to have encountered a lion-like monster with 'glaring eyes' on his return voyage after formally claiming St. For example, Avienius relates of Carthaginian explorer Himilco's voyage '.there monsters of the deep, and beasts swim amid the slow and sluggishly crawling ships.' (lines 117–29 of Ora Maritima). Sea monster accounts are found in virtually all cultures that have contact with the sea. Sea serpent reported by Hans Egede, Bishop of Greenland, in 1734 A sea monster depicted in mid-Atlantic in Petrus Plancius' 1592 map of New France. 1544 depicting various sea monsters compiled from the Carta marina. The definition of a 'monster' is subjective further, some sea monsters may have been based on scientifically accepted creatures, such as whales and types of giant and colossal squid. They can be slimy and scaly and are often pictured threatening ships or spouting jets of water. Marine monsters can take many forms, including sea dragons, sea serpents, or tentacled beasts. Sea monsters are beings from folklore believed to dwell in the sea and often imagined to be of immense size.

Legendary sea-dwelling creature Picture taken from a Hetzel copy of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Best generals in monster legends