A SEA MONSTER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 221, 18 September 1934, Page 6

A SEA MONSTER

STRUCK BY MAUNGANUI THRILL FOR PASSENGERS. 1 1 WELLINGTON, Sept. 17. J It is not an uncommon occurrence for £ vessels to collide with whales, and even 1 as recently as a few weeks ago it was I reported from Sydney that a harbour ferry steamer had struck and killed one ( oi these mammals. Ordinarily, then, ’ the news that the Union Company's I Royal Mail Steamer Maunganui, which arrived to-day from San Francisco, had ’ collided with a sea monster, would have been of little more than passing interest but for the fact that a possible coincidence was revealed. Some months ago Mr, Zane Grey, the celebrated author and sportsman, was a passenger on the Maunganui .from Papeete to San Francisco. One day, while he was chatting on deck with his son and the ship’s surgeon, Dr. M. J. O’Shea, an enormous sea monster suddenly dived away from the ship. Mr. Grey called out, “A whale, a. whale!” He was excited over (he incident, and a little later he told Dr. O’Shea that in his opinion the monster was not a whale, but a great sea fish which he had often seen in and about those waters. On arrival at San Francisco Mr. Grey mentioned that he had made inquiries concerning the creature, and he was convinced regarding its identity. It said that it was about fifty feet long and ten feet across the nose, and he asked the doctor to testify to these dimensions. Dr. O’Shea told a Post representative to-day that he was unable to recall the name Mr. Grey had given the leviathan, but stated that he considered Mr. Grey’s estimate of the dimensions was accurate. “He was deeply interested in this sea monster, and before the vessel reached San Francisco-he had recorded the incident in some of his writings,” Dr. O’Shea remarked. “As the Maunganui was in the same waters when the incident on the present trip occurred it is thought that the creature was the same one seen by Mr. Grey ami myself, or another of the same species. ” The collision occurred when the Maunganui was about a. day’s steaming out of Papeete and at 1 o’clock in the afternoon. A tremor ran through the ship as the bows cut into the great Ibulk, and several of the passengers (were alarmed. “I thought for a moment we had hit a rock, but realised that we w’ere a long way from land and that such a. thing was most unlikely,” one of them remarked. “It was certainly an unpleasant sensation for a time. Once, however, we knew the real cause, the incident was more interesting than alarming. It was the sole topic of conversation at. lunch. One of the passengers landing at Papeete was fortunate enough to get. some moving pictures from the bow. They ought to bo worth seeing.” So large was the monster and so deepiv the bows embedded in the huge body that Iho Maunganui had to go astern to free herself. This operation occupied a few minutes, and the great carcase slid <iown out «>f sight.