Sea Serpents

Dragons not only live on land and in the air, but also in the sea. The Sea Serpent is a Dragon, perfectly adapted to water. It attacks ships on sea with its fire breath and magic abilities. Intelligent, they stay at a distance for their own safety. Warriors are helpless against this kind of attack, and have to trust the ship's cannons to deal with the foe.

Sea Serpents logically are only encountered at sea.

Sea Serpents stayed the same after Ultima IV, however, in Ultima IX, they did a strange transformation away from the serpent form, with no explanation at all.

Variations
In various Ultimas, sea serpents have appeared in one form or another.

In Ultima I they appear as the Ness Creature (mention is made in the U1 guidebook about the creatures having been verified by this stage).

In Serpent Isle the conventional sea serpent is replaced by its cold-water cousin, the Frost Serpents, which are almost identical, other than the fact that the creature is blue, and spits cold-fire instead of normal fire.

Lore
''The Sea Serpent is an aquatic relative of the Dragon. The fireball cast by the Serpent can sink a ship long before it has a chance to close with the beast. The best defense against a Sea Serpent is to engage it in close combat as quickly as possible. It is thy only chance, albeit as slim one, to survive the encounter.''

- from "The History of Britannia", Ultima IV

''These serpents can appear from nowhere to rock a ship. Capable of launching great fireballs from a considerable distance - even across an entire island- they are among the most formidable of opponents. Since they are not intelligent and are easily out, witted, the best strategy is often to evade them and flee. However, if forced into battle, closing in to engage the serpent directly in combat will improve a ship's odds of surviving.''

- from "Book of Lore", Ultima V

''Like its land-based cousin, the dragon, a sea serpent will attack the seagoing traveler with magical fireballs and violent physical swipes of its long tail. The wise sailor avoids this nasty beast.''

- from "Compendium", Ultima VI

''This creature is a sea-going dragon. It is capable of spitting out fireballs, much the same as dragons breathe fire. A sea serpent can severely damage a ship with a single lash of its powerful tail.''

- from "Fellowship", Ultima VII