"SEA SERPENT" AGAIN

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 2995, 18 June 1926, Page 7

"SEA SERPENT" AGAIN

CANADIAN CAPTAIN'S REPORT

SKETCHES OF THE MONSTER

Seafaring men arc already identifying the sea serpent reported to have been seen off the coast of British Columbia a fortnight ago with one seem in the same vicinity eighteen months ago, says the Vancouver correspondent of the N.Z. Herald, writing on April 7. Captain House, of the Canadian Government fishing patrol> was.on his way north to Prince Rupert and had reached a point near Hecate Straits, which separate Queen Charlotte Islands from the mainland, when he saw the monster. He is an officer in whom his fellows place high trust. They say that if Captain House said he saw a sea serpent, he saw one, that is enough for them. He had plenty of time to observe the sea serpent/ and made a drawing of it in three positions —as it emerged from the water, when it was most out of the water, and when it was slipping back into the depths.

The following signed statement from Captain House has appeared wi the Vancouver Province newspaper:-—"I have prepared three sketches of the sea serpent sighted off Cape Bridge, opposite Wright Sound, at 2.45"p.m. on March 16, coming towards thes south end of Greville Channel. The head was about 18i*n. wide and possibly 2ft. 6in. long.' The thing remained erect for about half a minute, and then"disappeared spirally> as it had come. When submerged, it churned up the water, and left a wake for a long time, like a school of porpoises, moving, outward towards the sea, whence it had come." Captain House remarked that the sun was shining from the clouds at the time a.nd ga-ve the monster a greenish-gold appearance. He said he was familiar with most sea creatures, and was positive it was nothing he had seen before. It had the appearance of a telephone pole, as it raised its head 30ft. above the water.

The capture, recently, of a serpentlike fish at Powell Eiver, lends colour to the belief that it is the young of Captain House's sea serpent. The Powell Eiver Company have put it on ice, aitid are sending photographs to the Fisheries Department. It is five feet long, with a head like that of a wolf, about the size of an English pug dog. The end of the body tapers to a point, and skin-like fins at the side extend the en^ tire length.