“Cetaceans, Sex and Sea Serpents: an Analysis of the Egede Accounts of a “Most Dreadful Monster” Seen off the Coast of Greenland in 1734”, C. G. M. Paxton, E. Knatterud, S. L. Hedley2005-04-01 ()⁠:

A re-evaluation of the “most dreadful monster” originally described by the “Apostle of Greenland” Hans Egede in 1741 suggests that the missionary’s son Poul probably saw an unfamiliar cetacean.

The species seen was likely to have been a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), a North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) or one of the last remaining Atlantic grey whales (Eschrichtius robustus) either without flukes or possibly a male in a state of arousal.

Figures 4 (left) and 5 (right). Serpentine penises of whales. Figure 4: North Atlantic right whale photographed on 15 August 2001, Bay of Fundy (© New England Aquarium. Reproduced by permission of New England Aquarium, Boston, Massachusetts). Figure 5: grey whale, photographed 1970s, Pacific coast of Baja California.
[Miscellaneous whale penises]

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Cetaceans, Sex and Sea Serpents: an Analysis of the Egede Accounts of a “Most Dreadful Monster” Seen off the Coast of Greenland in 1734