VAIN QUEST

Hokitika Guardian, 26 July 1938, Page 2

VAIN QUEST

FOR A SEA SERPENT

(Per Press Association—Copyngutp

WELLINGTON, July 25

Hearing that a sea serpent iiau been washed ashore at Elat Point, on the East Coast, Dominion Museum scientists made a hurried expedition at the week-end to inspect it. On arrival, hovve.er, they lound that it was, the carcase of a whale, probably a cachalot, deeply buried in sand. The find was reported by a surveyor, who mtormed tne museum oiiiCiads that pome strange marine monster, possibly.the fabled sea serpent, had been stranded near Flat Point. Prom the description, the interest of the scientists was aroused, and they lost no time in visiting the scene. The creature was on the shore below Mr C. Cameron’s homestead, about 25 miles south of Castle Point. By courtesy of Mr Geoff. Cameron, the manager of the farm, the scientists were able to gain access to the- place. At first glance,.' the sea serpent theory appeared justified, for in one place the hump of the blubber projected from the sand and some 55 feet distant a second section, as of a tapered tail, , could be discerned. Closer investigation, however, revealed the carcase of a great whale buried under the shifting sands of the shore. The whale had evidently been on the beach about three months, for it was largely decomposed. Little remained of it but bone and blubber, the bones deeply embedded. The carcase measured 55 feet long.

Later, when the processes of decomposition are completed and circumstances permit, it is hoped t 0 recover the skeleton, which 'is believed to be that of a sperm whale.