Thursday 16th October 1808

Dear Diary,
I was engaged in my day dreaming and watching the ocean stream past when I was startled from my reverie by a large, smooth skinned creature that broke the surface alongside our hull. I leapt back and almost tumbled upon Miss Dixon embroidering on the booby.
"Whatever is the matter, Mr Austen?" She gasped, "You have gone quite pale."
"I think I saw a sea monster," I muttered.
"Oh, pish tush!" She laughed, "It cannot be so. I do not believe such things exist. You are out of sorts. Come rest upon my booby. Tell me again of the tale of the Nun and her tossing off on your Knob."
I would have eagerly done so and yet at that moment a gentlewoman strolling past beneath her parasol collapsed in a faint and I went in search of smelling salts.