When Wayne Soini was a Beeman School fifth-grader in the class of Paul Harling, he went on a field trip to the Cape Ann Museum where he learned about sea serpent sightings in Gloucester. It was a subject he would never forget.
A 1966 graduate of Gloucester High School, Soini went on to become a lawyer. In 2009, he earned a master's degree in history from the University of Massachusetts Boston. That historical note about the Gloucester sea serpent, which incubated in Soini's mind for decades, was about to come to life.
He would delve into research about the Gloucester sea serpent and publish a book about it.
On Saturday, Soini will hold a reading at the very museum where he first heard the tales. He also will sing a sea serpent song he wrote that summarizes the book.
"The sea serpent was around for about three weeks in Gloucester Harbor and hundreds of people saw it," said Soini, who now lives in Brookline. A year later, a serpent was spotted off the coast of Lynn.
The author provided the context of the book in this summary: "In 1817, as Gloucester, Massachusetts, was recovering from the War of 1812, something beneath the water was about to cause a stir in this New England coastal community. It was a misty August day when two women first sighted Gloucester's sea serpent, touching off a riptide of excitement among residents."
Soini explores the many details behind this mystery.
"Now that I had skills to research something historical, I put those skills to work and since 2009 I began researching this topic," he said. At the Cape Ann Museum archives, he found a treasure trove of information in a file of Gloucester sea captain Charles Lennox Sargent's unpublished, handwritten manuscripts.
"In my opinion there really was a sea serpent that visited Gloucester, and the evidence is clear from sworn statements about what people saw," he said.
Soini said what surprised him in his research was the politics that led to the sea serpent evidence he found.
"A judge named John Davis, who was also an amateur scientist, wanted the United States of America to be the most prominent scientific country in the world," said Soini.
The judge, a Federalist Party member, wrote to Lonson Nash, a chief Federalist spokesman and politician in Gloucester, and asked him to write up all the affidavits he could find from residents who saw the serpent.
"That's why the evidence exists. They wanted to capture on paper this amazing marine animal to 'wow' the scientists of the world," said the author.
Soini noted that two other members of the Gloucester High's Class of 1966, Manuel Simoes and Roseanne Cody, contributed to the book. About 10 images in the book come from historical postcards in Cody's collection. Simoes took original photographs of the harbor, a few which are printed in the book.
Royalties from "Gloucester's Sea Serpent" will be split between the Cape Ann Museum and the Gloucester High Scholarship Fund.
Soini co-authored the local sports history book "Judge Fuchs and the Boston Braves," with the late Robert Fuchs in 1998.
Gail McCarthy may be contacted at 978-283-7000 x3445 or gmccarthy@gloucestertimes.com.
If you go
Who and what: Meet Wayne Soini, author of "Gloucester's Sea Serpent."
When: Saturday, Dec. 18. at 3 p.m.
Where: Cape Ann Museum at 27 Pleasant St., Gloucester.
How much: Free.
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