In 1881 George Drevar, a merchant captain who had survived a shipwreck in the Cape Verde Islands, was tried at the Old Bailey for libel and threatening the life of the Commissioner of Wreck, Henry Cadogan Rothery, in part because of a disagreement over the existence of the great sea serpent. This article explains the background to the trial, including Drevar’s own sea serpent sightings, the trial’s eventual outcome and some later related events in Drevar’s life. Drevar’s actions seem to have been driven by mental illness caused by the stress of shipwreck coupled with a fervent religiosity with regard to the sea serpent.

中文翻译：

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被海蛇逼疯：乔治·德雷瓦船长的奇怪案例

1881 年，在佛得角群岛的一次海难中幸存下来的商船船长 George Drevar 因诽谤和威胁沉船专员 Henry Cadogan Rothery 的生命而在 Old Bailey 受到审判，部分原因是在存在分歧巨大的海蛇。这篇文章解释了审判的背景，包括德雷瓦自己的海蛇目击事件、审判的最终结果以及后来德雷瓦生活中的一些相关事件。德雷瓦的行为似乎是由沉船压力引起的精神疾病以及对海蛇的狂热宗教信仰所驱动的。