A SEA MONSTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7232, 3 August 1891, Page 3

A SEA MONSTER.

[Peb Pbesb Association..'' WELLINGTON, August 3. When the Rotcmahana was off Portland light, between Gisborne and Napier, on Saturday morning, what is supposed to be an immense* sea monster was sighted. The chief officer wbb on the bridge at the time, and his attention was called to the animal by a quartermaster, who was looking out of a door leading to the wheel room. A heavy sea was running at the time, and the quartermaster states th«,t he first noticed a long, dark-looking object rise slowly from the water, about half-a-mile from tho vessel, until it reached a height of thirty or . forty feet. It then slowly disappeared ; and when it next made its appearance, it was much closer to the ship. The quartermaster saw the serpent rise four or five times before he drew the chief officer's attention to it, aad they both saw it rise perpendicularly out of the water to a great height within a hundred yards of the vessel. After withdrawing into the water that time it was seen again. Both men who saw it state that it could not have been less than a hundred feet long. On arriving here the chief officer heard that an earthquake was felt at Napier on Saturday morning at 6.30, which was about the time they saw the serpent, and he now thinks it wap some disturbance at the bottom of the sea which caused the animal to come to the surface.