"Woke at dawn, found starboard rail bent and torn, boards scored as if gripped by immense jaws. Crew missing livestock, but no sign save slime over the wood and deep indentations beyond obvious explanation. The bite, if that’s what it was, measured half a yard across at the widest, curving deep into the soft pine as if from prodigious teeth unlike any shark or whale."
—Journal entry, Barque Valiant, 1813