DO SEA MONSTERS EXIST?

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4324, 27 July 1937, Page 2

DO SEA MONSTERS EXIST?

UNSUBSTANTIATED TALES FREQUENCY OF ILLUSIONS All nations have accounts of peculiar monsters. Such animals are nearly always mythical and find their ideal in the sea serpent. The sea serpent has never lacked an audience or implicit believers in its existence; and the tales of its manifestations, if lacking in cohesion and unsubstantiated, are, to sav the least, vastly entertaining (writes E. G. Boulenger, in ‘ The Listener ’). All kinds and manner of things upon the sea surface may convincingly suggest a huge sea snake. Seals, turtles, schools of porpoises, masses of weed are all a cause of this illusion. What could be more suggestive of a sea serpent than the 30ft club-tipped arm of a giant squid raised for a few moments above the waves? Such a spectacle, seen at dusk and silhouetted against the sunset, might easily convince the most blase teetotaller on board a ship. The incessant appearance of the sea serpent from the year 1520 down to modern times has been tabulated, and the list totals over 250 cases. In 1830 one was observed in the Atlantic by the master of a schooner. Its neck was ornamented with a mane, and when its head appeared above the surface it made a noise similar to that of steam escaping from a boiler. In 1847 a specimen was observed off St. Helena by the Captain of H.M.S. Daedalus. The animal, estimated at over 100 ft in length, was stated to have the head of a lizard with huge jaws full of long and jagged teeth. A few years after an account of an encounter between a sea serpent and a fishing party in Jiallycotton Bay was given in the ‘ Zoologist.’ The moment it was shot at the beast disappeared. But before this it disgorged a shoal of fish, which when handled gave the most severe shocks. The same year a specimen was observed by those on a Spanish man-o ’ war to overpower a sperm whale. More convincing evidence of the existence of some huge serpentshaped animal was given some years ago by the late Mr E. G. B. MeadeWald'o, who was a member of the Zoological Society’s Council, and the late Mr M. J. Nichol, who was for many years an assistant in the Giza Gardens in Egypt. This sea serpent was observed early one morning from the yacht Valhalla in the South Atlantic. At first ail that was observed was a dorsal fin about 4ft longstanding out of the water. Below, tire outline of a snake could be distinctly seen. Suddenly a neck about 6ft in length supporting a turtle-shaped bead appeared in front of the fin. For a short time the animal moved with the ship at about eight knots, but it suddenly dived and disappeared for ever. These modern sea serpent tales are distinctly tame compared with those told by "one Olaus Magnus, Archbishop of Upsala, who lived in the sixteenth century. According to this esteemed divine, the Norwegian coast was the home of an enormous sea serpent that snatched sheep from the cliff tops by way of a snack or appetiser, and would then make a satisfying meal off a large schooner with deck fittings, cargo, and so forth. This archbishop swore to having been an eye-witness to this incident which he sot down in black and white. At that time no camera was, of course, available, but the archbishop, nothing daunted, commissioned an art-

ist who did ample justice to the occa sion.

It is unlikely, but just possible, that an unidentified serpentine sea monster does exist. Putting aside the inventions of some highly imaginative or even intoxicated voyager, one must

take into account the deceptive distance of the open sea and the wiles played upon the human sight by light, wind, cloud, and waves. Many normal phenomena, such as a flock of birds in single file, the long arm of a squid, a shoal of porpoise, or a certain giant fish, arc often mistaken for a giant sea snake. Still more difficult to believe in than the sea serpent is the Loch Ness monster, which held the attention of the world for over two years, and accordin to some, is still at large. Day by day, science, taking nothing for granted, adds to our store of facts, demolishing old assumptions and disposing of ancient fallacies. But the caveman who heard the voices of gods in thunder and saw bones of giants in fossil lizards, still lies dormant in all of us, as the belief of so many persons of normal intelligence in the Loch Ness monster shows. This hump-backed, giant animal with eyes like motor lamps deserves a close study if only because it is a good example of mass hallucination. Many theories are offered to explain the Loch

Ness monster. First it has been suggested that it may be some fish or lizard closely akin to forms supposed extinct for many millions of years. It has also been suggested that it is a sea serpent and. finally, that it is some

animal, unidentified and new to science. Before discussing these possibilities for what they are worth, Loch Ness, itself, which nearly cuts Scotland in two, demands some notice. This gigantic inland waterway is nearly 2o miles long with an average depth of 430 ft and a maximum depth of 7ooft. It is said of the Loch that it never gives up its dead. Take into account its wild and lonely nature, its sudden storms and mists, and the stage is fairly set for the encounter of the monster. Now let us consider the possibilities of its existence, dealing first with the supposition that it is a survival of the plesiosaurus or some other giant animal such as lived many million years ago. The faintest contemplation of the changes,-geographical, geological, and climatica! that have been taking place since the reptile age, and the intervention of the ice age, disposes of such a

likelihood. Then there is a suggestion

that a blue whale or even a school of

porpoises has gained access to the Loch

This is possible, but not likely, since the passage through the canals leading

to the Loch of any animals of large

size would be detected. The eye-witness accounts of this animal, though always entertaining, are, one is forced to confess, inconclusive,

to say the least. Further, we must bear in mind that the body of such an

animal would long ago have emptied

the Loch of all sustenance. The divert-

ing pantomime began in June, 1933

and still enjoys half-hearted revivals. It was in October of that year that the storm burst. Many people saw the

| monster and gave most conflicting acj counts of it and its habits. It was of immense size, bad arms, a mane, and j eyes like the headlights of a powerful I car. The following year enthusiasm I rose to fever height. A well-known big I game hunter went in search of it, and j was made the victim of a hoax, being I led to discover footprints later diagI nosed as having been made with a Jiip- | popotamus foot door stopper. One man j actually broadcast an eye-witness acj count of the monster which he saw on I the public highway with a dead sheep j in its mouth —an account which is not unlike that of the Archbishop of Fpsala. Certain pioneers of undersea motion pictures travelled especially from America witli a view to taking close-ups. | The animal, still unidentified, was made { the subject of endless jests and leg pulls, i whilst inns within any distance of the j Loch enjoyed a boom. Some attempt i was made to revive enthusiasm on be- | half of the ogopogo of the Canadian j Lakes. A showman offered £5.000 for a j living specimen of the Loch Xess animal.

| One’s sympathies go to the many ! who have seen the monster of Loch Xess, but have no tangible evidence, At worst they are only in the same boat with the journalists whose adventures Kipling tells of in ‘ A Matter of Fact.’ These men actually saw a sea serpent cast on the waves following an upheaval. Only one of the party had the pluck to take his account to a newspaper office. He was shown the door. To-day he would probably have been welcomed with open arms.