MORE SEA MONSTERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21888, 25 August 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

MORE SEA MONSTERS

FIFTY FEET IN LENGTH NEAR THE SCOTTISH COAST SWEDISH SAILOR'S STORY A remarkable story of an encounter with sea monsters twenty miles off Cape Wrath, on the Scottish coast, was told at Liverpool, in July by officers and men of the Swedish stenmor Nordia a vessel of 1316 tons, which had just arrived there. Eight men including a passenger, claimed to have seen the monsters. They described them as 50ft. long and 20ft. in girth, with square heads 6ft. broad. Tho vessel it was stated approached within 20ft. of two of the monsters, which appeared to bo basking on tho surface of tho sea. But they submerged before a photograph could bo taken. The Chief Officer Mr. Edward Olsson gave a graphic description of the encounter. " Early in the afternoon of Juno 27," he said, " I wa? on watch on tho bridge when I saw what at first appeared to be wreckage, similar to the ribs of an old ship, some distance away. I shouted to the captain, who hurried to the bridge accompanied by a passenger, who is principal of a secondary school at Malmo. " ' For goodness' sake keep clear; it may bo wreckage,' exclaimed tho 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. I was convinced that wo were among unknown monsters,

and when a formless mass was sighted about a mile away on the port bow I 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 alivel' I 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 back, 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 lapped against them. The monsters' bodies were just beneath the surface of the sea. All eight of us who saw them agreed that they were 50ft. in length and tapering toward the tail like an eel. , " For a quarter of an hour the huge beasts were upder observation, but when we crept to within 20ft. of them they sensed our approach. Probably the propeller disturbed them, for suddenly they gracefully dived head first out of sight. We never saw them aeain."