2011 Update: For the first time in 10 years, Chessie the Travelin' Manatee, has been re-sighted in the Chesapeake Bay near Calvert County, Maryland! Chessie's ID was confirmed by Cathy Beck, a USGS biologist who is responsible for the manatee photo-id database in Florida. Chessie was sighted on Tuesday, 12 July 2011, when he came to the surface to take a breath, according to the USGS Sirenia Project. The last time we had a confirmed sighting was when he patiently waited for the Virginia Great Bridge Locks to open on Aug. 30, 2001! Read the full story on our Blog: Mermaids: Ambassadors from Sea to Sea.

2003 Update: Dear Caryn, No sighting of Chessie that was verified this year. His last verified sighting was in August 2001. We did receive some sightings this winter in Sag Harbor, at The Hamptons on north shore of Long Island. Could not determine if they were from Chessie, but it is possible. There was also a Virginia Beach sighting of a young manatee in June. And another unverified sighting in July of a manatee in Chesapeake Bay very near the original capture site of Chessie. -- October 8, 2003 Bob Bonde, USGS Sirenia Project

2002 Update: Manatee sighted in Richmond waters -- One of the gray-brown aquatic mammals showed up in the James River in Richmond on Saturday, far from where manatees are usually found: Florida. Jaynell Trent is a Virginia Commonwealth University graduate student who was taking a course-related walking tour of parts of the river with her instructor and fellow class members. Ralph Hambrick, a professor of political science and public administration at VCU, teaches a course in river policy. He and the students struggled at first to identify the creature, which looked like a long rock in the water. "Our first thought was that it was the biggest catfish we had ever seen," Hambrick said. "And then we thought, 'Could it possibly be a sturgeon?' "

When it came up for air, they realized it was a manatee, a gray-brown aquatic mammal generally found in Florida. In warm weather, manatees can be found as far north as the Carolinas and even Virginia. One with distinguishing scars was spotted several times in the Chesapeake Bay last year. The mammal was dubbed "Chessie." Last month there were several manatee sightings in the James near Norfolk and Newport News. But yesterday's sighting, inside the Richmond city limits, is the first known time a manatee has been found this far upriver, said Susan Barco, a research scientist at the Virginia Marine Science Museum in Virginia Beach. Barco said the manatees sighted last month had different scars than those of Chessie. The scars generally come from encounters with propellers. -- June 23, 2002 (c) Daily Press

Chessie Photo (c) Save the Manatee Club

The Chessie Watch Page This article, by Jonathon Bird, is reprinted here with permission from Oceanic Research Group. Updates follow below! You may have heard about Chessie the famous "long distance manatee" in the news. Chessie is a male West Indian Manatee who, in summer 1994, earned his name by showing up in Chesapeake Bay, much further north than the species is known to travel. Fearing that he would die from the cold of oncoming fall and winter, biologists flew him back to Florida and let him go. Well, wouldn't you know it, that pesky manatee was back to his old tricks in 1995 when he took off and headed north again. This time, however, biologists at the National Biological Service's Sirenia Project office in Gainesville, Florida were ready. They had placed a satellite transmitter "tag" on Chessie so they could follow his movements and learn from his migration. Also, they could find and rescue him if he got into trouble. This map shows his locations and dates in 1995 (courtesy of the Sirenia Project).

Nobody knows for sure why Chessie swims north. It might be that he has found something he likes to eat in the more northern waters. Perhaps he just likes to explore. But, as it turns out, Chessie knows what he's doing. In 1995 he swam all the way up to Point Judith, Rhode Island, setting a world's record for a West Indian Manatee! He has gone further north than any other West Indian Manatee in recorded history! But when the water started cooling off, he turned around and swam right back down the coast to Florida again. Unfortunately, his transmitter fell off in Connecticut, so his route back is somewhat obscure. (The transmitters have a special "weak link" designed to snap if the transmitter gets caught, to avoid harming the manatee). He was sighted along the way back to Florida by fishermen, boaters, and even a surfer. Biologists were amazed when he showed up in November in Florida, after swimming 3,000 miles round trip!

Nobody can say for sure what Chessie is going to do this year, but this page will keep you posted. Thanks to the efforts of the Sirenia Project, there is a new satellite tag on Chessie, and we hope to follow his movements by updating this page periodically.

July 12, 1996

July 20, 1996

Bad News and Good News - August 2, 1996

August 5, 1997

September 23 1998

By fin and flipper -- this is a manatee that sure knows how to get around! After a five-year disappearance, Chessie, perhaps the most famous and well-traveled manatee along the U.S. Atlantic Coast, has been sighted again in coastal Virginia.

After first being radio-tagged and tracked by the manatee researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey in 1994, Chessie gained media fame in the summer of 1995 by swimming past the mid-Atlantic states, through New York City and yes, even by the Statue of Liberty, and all the way to Rhode Island, farther than any manatee had been known to venture. After returning to Florida for the winter, he again wandered north again as far as Virginia where he was last seen in 1996, according to USGS scientists.

Three weeks ago, Chessie was photographed in Great Bridge, Va., at the Great Bridge Locks. Two engineers, Joel Scussel and Rob Poyner, were working at the Great Bridge Locks when they noticed a manatee in the lock basin. Because manatees are only occasionally seen this far north, they notified Sue Barco, a marine mammal scientist at the Virginia Marine Science Museum, who brought her research team to the locks. While the manatee patiently cooled its flippers in the lock basin waiting for the gates to open, Barco, Poyner, and Scussel watched the manatee and photographed his distinctive scar pattern. Afterward, they opened the gates, and the manatee continued his trip south.

The photographs were sent to USGS manatee researchers, who used the manatee photo-identification catalog to match scar patterns and to excitedly confirm the traveler's identity as Chessie.

Barco said that it was clear from the animal's behavior that it had been through these or similar lock systems before. "But we didn't think it was Chessie because of the new scars on his tail and back. But after getting the confirmation that it was Chessie, we are very happy to know he is doing well."

Chessie first gained fame in the fall of 1994 when he was sighted in the Maryland waters of Chesapeake Bay, considered far outside the normal winter range of manatees. The adult male manatee, now known as Chessie, was captured by the National Aquarium and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and returned by U.S. Coast Guard plane to Florida. Chessie was released into the Banana River near Kennedy Space Center, wearing a satellite-monitored radio tag attached to a harmless, pliable belt around the base of his tail.

USGS manatee biologist Jim Reid kept track of Chessie as he moved into southeastern Florida, and then in the spring of 1995, as he moved northward. By mid-July 1995, Chessie was again in Chesapeake Bay. Because the bay waters were warm, the manatee was not captured. Reid continued to track Chessie by using the signals emitted from his radio transmitter, through Delaware Bay and into salt marshes near Atlantic City, New Jersey and Connecticut, past the Statue of Liberty, and through Long Island Sound. Chessie stopped briefly to rest and feed along the way, but continued his northward movement until he reached Point Judith, Rhode Island, in mid-August, 1995.

As many a Rhode Island swimmer can attest, the Floridian-born Chessie found the waters a wee bit too cold and turned around to return to warmer waters. A week later, Chessie's radio tag broke free in New Haven, Conn., but public sightings enabled the researchers to track Chessie's whereabouts as he continued his journey south. In late September, Chessie passed through the Great Bridge Locks - the same place he was spotted several weeks ago - and then was seen in Florida waters near Jacksonville in mid-November.

Chessie wisely stayed in warmer Florida waters that winter, where he was sighted near Ft. Lauderdale in February 1996, and where researchers again attached a radio transmitter to the belt that he still wore. Once again, manatee scientists tracked Chessie's movements until his transmitter was lost near Beaufort, NC. Chessie was last seen in August, 1996, swimming south past Portsmouth, Va.

Since then, several sighting reports of manatees north of the Carolinas have been forwarded to USGS manatee researchers, but none of these sightings could be confirmed as Chessie. This time, though, researchers were able to positively identify Chessie through the USGS manatee photo-identification catalog, a computerized database of photographically documented manatees. Each manatee in the database is recognized by one or more unique features, most commonly the scars inflicted by non-lethal encounters with boats.

In 1994, scientists had photographed Chessie - and his unique markings and scars - before his release in Florida. USGS researchers Cathy Beck and Amy Teague were elated when they were able to identify Chessie from the photos - there was Chessie's distinctive long gray scar on his back, with several small white spots apparent within the scar. Since then, said Beck, Chessie has also acquired tail mutilations as well, but these scars are not severe.

"By enabling researchers to individually identify Chessie and other manatees, the long-term photographic database documents movements, reproductive histories, and survival of these endangered mammals," Beck said.

Since Chessie's noteworthy trips, more public sightings of manatees have occurred in northeastern states. USGS manatee scientists believe that Chessie's annual migration from Florida to the Chesapeake Bay may have been common for manatees in previous centuries. The repeated sightings of a "sea monster" in the Chesapeake Bay, nicknamed "Chessie," date back throughout this century and possibly include manatee sightings that were not properly identified. Chessie was named after this purported sea monster.

Cooperation among members of the Marine Mammal Sighting Networks, oceanaria, government agencies and the public on Chessie's migration has, said Reid, raised the public's awareness of this unique endangered marine mammal. "Manatees," said Reid, "are long-lived and typically repeat established movement patterns. It's likely that sightings of Chessie or other manatees will occur again in these northern areas."

For future sightings, the public should contact local wildlife authorities, who will get in touch with the USGS manatee team.

The USGS serves the nation by providing reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy, and mineral resources; and enhance and protect our quality of life.

Source: http://cars.er.usgs.gov/Manatees/manatees.html

For pictures of Chessie, please visit: http://cars.er.usgs.gov/Manatees/Manatee_Sirenia_Project/Manatee_Chessie_Surfaces/manatee_chessie_surfaces.html

This press release and in-depth information about USGS programs may be found on the USGS home page: http://www.usgs.gov. To receive the latest USGS news releases automatically by email, send a request to [email protected]. Specify the listserver(s) of interest from the following names: water-pr: geologic-hazards-pr; geological-pr; biological-pr; mapping-pr; products-pr; lecture-pr. In the body of the message write: subscribe (name of listserver) (your name). Example: subscribe water-pr joe smith.

Children's books about Chessie:
The following books are offered through Call of the Siren Bookstore in Association with Amazon.com

• Chessie: The Meandering Manatee (Young Reader's Series)
  PAPERBACK $3.96 + S&H; by Carol A. Amato, David Wenzel, and Patrick O'Brien. 1997. Barrons Juveniles. Paperback 48 pp. Recommended for ages 9-12. While visiting Uncle Phil in Florida, Carrie and Ben find out all about the gentle aquatic giant known as the manatee.
• Chessie, the Travlin' Man (Human Society of the United States Animal Tales Series)
  HARDCOVER $9.06 + S&H; by Randy Houck and Paula Bartlett. April 1997. Benefactory. Hardcover. Recommended for ages 9-12.