Steam Ship Hits Sea Monster

The book that I'm writing is about a young family that runs into some problems while trying to enjoy a vacation on Lake Champlain.  The story climaxes as they have a run-in with Champ, the legendary sea monster of the Lake. 

There have been many sightings of Champ publicly reported over the last 2 centuries.  In my story a young boy is reading a history of Champ so he knows something about where he is visiting for vacation.  The book has many of the stories of sightings from people.  I'm using real stories that I have come across, but putting them in my own words.  The following is one tale of how a boat ran into the sea monster.  This story was originally printed in a local news paper, though I haven't found the original yet.  The event is posted on many websites across the internet.  The best details seem to come from a book called "The Untold Story Of Champ".  Here is the story, in my words.  I took some license with it, but not much.

In the late 1800s a load of tourists floated down Lake Champlain in a small steamship called the W.B. Eddy. During the ride the ship struck something like a log that caused it to jut forcefully to once side.  The boat started to flip over, so the passengers all moved to the other side to keep it afloat.  The W.B. Eddy settled back down and something amazing happened. The head and neck of Champ rose out of the water about a hundred feet away.  Everyone saw it happen.  The great monster stared at the people.  They stared at it in amazement.  Then Champ moved back into the water and quickly swam away.

It's interesting to note that at the time of this original incident there were a lot of reports being sighted.  I say that because this doesn't seem to be a single instance.  Just one of many during a busy month at Lake Champlain.