MONSTER SEASON REMAINS OPEN

Evening Star, Issue 21824, 13 September 1934, Page 2

MONSTER SEASON REMAINS OPEN

A remarkable story ot ail encounter with sea monsters ■ twenty miles off Capo Wrath, on the Scottish coast, was told at Liverpool recently by officers and men of the Swedish steamer Nordia, a vessel of 1,316 tons, which had just arrived there. Eight men, including a passenger, claimed to have seen the monsters. They described them as fiOft long and 20ft in girth, with square heads Oft broad (says the ‘News Chronicle ’). The vessel, it was stated, approached within 20ft of two of the monsters, which appeared to be basking on the surface of the sea. But they submerged before a photograph could be taken. The chief officer, Mr Edward Olsson, gave a graphic description of the encounter. “ Early in the afternoon of June 27,” he said, “ 1 was on watch on the bridge when 1 saw what at first appeared to be wreckage, similar to the ribs of an old ship, sonic distance away. I shouted to the captain, who hurried to the bridge, accompanied by a passenger, who is principal of a secondary school at Mahno. “ ‘For goodness’ sake. keep, clear; it may be r wreckage,’ exclaimed the captain. But ho had hardly spoken when similar huge fins broke the surface of the water some distance away on each side of the ship. 1 was convinced that we were among unknown monsters, and when a formless mass was sighted about a mile away on the port bow 1 shouted, ‘ Let her go for it!’

“ Leaving the bridge, I climbed on top of the deck cargo at the forecastle head, and as we slowly approached what looked like a huge derelict, I observed a movement similar to that made by an oarsman sculling. ‘lt is alive!’ 1 shouted. And just as our passenger joined me, the huge mass took shape. “ There were two monsters- side by side, lazily basking in .the sunshine. Each had "two huge vertical fins on its hack, standing 3ft out of the water. The fins resembled propeller blades standing upright. They moved gently to and fro in a sculling movement when the waves Japped against them. The monsters’ bodies were just beneath the surface of the sea. All eight ol us who saw them agreed that they were 50ft in length, and tapering towards the tail like an eel. “ For a quarter ot an hour tfie huge beasts were under observation, but when we crept to within 20ft of them they sensed our approach. Probably the propeller disturbed them, for suddenly thev gracefully dived head first out of sight. We never saw them again. ’