20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Because, over a period of some time, several ships had encountered "an enormous thing" at sea, a long, spindle-shaped object which was sometimes luminous and was infinitely larger and faster than a whale.

The details of this apparition, recorded in various log books, were almost identical regarding the structure of the object or being in question, the unprecedented speed of its movements, its surprising locomotive power, the distinctive life it seemed to be endowed with. If it was a cetacean, it was larger than any so far classified by science. Neither Cuvier, nor Lacépède, nor Mr. Dumeril, nor Mr. de Quatrefages would have admitted such a monster existed—at least, not without seeing it with their own scientific eyes.