In 1866, everyone was excited about one thing. There was a strange monster in the sea, people said. Different ships saw it at different times in the Atlantic and in the Pacific. It was very big, very long, and it moved very fast. It threw water up into the sky, too. Perhaps it was a whale? Of course, some people did not believe in the monster. But then, in 1867, some important ships had bad accidents. The worst of these accidents happened to a famous ship, the Scotia. After it hit something at the sea, the Scotia had a hole in it of two and a half metres! People said, ‘The monster did this! We must find it and kill it.’