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In June 1877, the officers and crew of the Royal yacht Osborne Matheson was sailing with his wife on Loch Alsh which separates encountered a sea monster off the coast of Sicily. Lieutenant the Island of Skye from the mainland. His own account runs as Haynes described it thus: follows: "My attention was first called by seeing a long row of fins "The time was between one and two when suddenly I saw appearing above the surface of the water at a distance of about something rise out of the Loch in front of us, a long, straight, 200 yards from the ship, and away on our beam. They were of _ neck-like thing as tall as my mast. irregular heights and extending about 30 feet or 40 feet in line. In "It was then 200 yards away and was moving towards us. Then a few seconds they disappeared, giving place to the forepart of the it began to draw its neck down, and I saw clearly that it was a monster. By this time it had passed astern, swimming in an oppo- large sea-monster of the saurian type, I should think. It was site direction to that we were steering, and as we were passing brown in colour, shining, and with a sort of ruffle at the junction through the water at ten-and-a-half knots I could only get a view of the head and neck. I can think of nothing to which to compare of it ‘end on’. The head was bullet-shaped, and quite 6 feet thick, it so well as the head and neck of the giraffe, only the neck was the neck narrow, and its head was occasionally thrown back out of | much longer, and the head was not set upon the neck like that of a the water, remaining there for a few seconds at a time. It was giraffe; that is, it was not so much at right angles to it as a contin- very broad across the back or shoulders, about 15 feet or 20 feet, uation of it in the same line. It moved its head from side to side, and the flappers appeared to have a semi-revolving motion, which —_ and I saw the reflection of the light from its wet skin." seemed to paddle the monster along. They were about 15 feet in Dr Matheson saw no scales on the creature, just a perfectly length. From the top of the head to the part of the body where it smooth surface. It was in sight for about two minutes and then became immersed, I should consider 50 feet, and that seemed disappeared. Then it rose again three different times, at intervals about one-third of the whole length. All this part was smooth, of two or three minutes. It stood perpendicularly out of the water resembling a seal. I cannot account for and seemed to look round. the fins, unless they were on the back "When it appeared the second time it below where it was immersed." " was going from us, and was travelling Captain R. J. Cringle, of the It was then 200 yards away at a great rate. It was going in the Steamship Umfuli, one of the ten ves- and was moving towards us. direction of the northern outlet of the sels of the Natal Line belonging to Then it began to draw its neck Loch, and we were sailing in its wake; I Bullard, King and Company, entered was interested, and followed it. From the following in the ship's log: down, and l saw clearly that it its first to its last appearance we trav- "SS. Umfuli, Monday, Dec. 4th, 4 elled a mile, and the last time we saw it 1893, 5.30 p.m., lat. 23 deg. N., long. was a large sea-monster of the it was about a mile away. 18 deg. W. — Sighted and passed, saurian type..." "I saw no body, only a ripple of the about 500 yards from ship, a monster water where the line of the body should fish of serpentine shape, about 80 feet be. I should judge, however, that there long, with shining skin, and short fins, must have been a large base of body to about 20 feet apart, on the back; in circumference, about the support such a neck... An eel could not lift up its body like that, dimensions of a full-sized whale." nor could a snake." The position indicated was off the coast of Africa, a little south Despite suggestions that it was an optical illusion, Dr Matheson of the Canary Islands. When questioned further, the captain said and his wife stuck to the story. that all his crew and the passengers had seen it. He had this to Curiously, Dr Matheson's description of the sea serpent sounds add: surprisingly close to that of a periscope. When it came to sub- "..and this thing, whatever it was, was in sight for over half an marines, at that time Britain lagged far behind the rest of the hour. In fact, we did not lose sight of it until darkness came on. world, but France, Germany and America were all investing large "When we first saw it I estimated that it would be about 400 sums in their development. Could that long neck and head, that yards away. It was rushing through the water at great speed, and turned this way and that, possibly have been the periscope of a was throwing water from her bows. I saw full 15 feet of its head —_ foreign submarine doing a little spying? oo and neck on three occasions. They appeared and disappeared three times. The body was all the time visible." References After likening the body to a hundred-ton gun partly submerged, ¢ Dunn, Matthias, Studies Under The Sea, Hazell, Watson & with three distinct humps or swellings above the waves, he then Viney, 1901. ¢ Story, Alfred T., The Sea-Serpent, Newnes, 1895. continued: "The base, or body, from which the neck sprang was much About the Author: thicker than the neck itself... I turned the ship round to get closer C. D. Pollard is a former second-hand book dealer turned to it, and got much nearer than we were at first; but the sun was _ full-time writer, whose articles and short stories have been setting.” published in over 30 magazines in the UK, France, USA and, The creature appeared to have smooth skin, and was dark now, Australia and New Zealand. His first book, Classic brown in colour. The ship was so near it at one time that a pas- — Tastes, part of a series, is due to be published by Pipers’ Ash senger, Mr Kennealy, said he could hear the creature hiss, but the Ltd, UK, in late 1997. first officer claimed that the sound was nothing but the noise from Mr Pollard has a peculiar obsession with the Victorian and the water at the bows. Mr Kennealy may have immortalised him- Edwardian periods, particularly with rare literature and some self if only he had taken the trouble to use the camera he had on _ of the more unusual goings-on of those times, be they Fortean board. or just plain eccentric. Working from his base in a small Dr Farquhar Matheson, of London, had a still closer view of a _ English village on the edge The Black Country, his aim is to similar creature. This happened in September 1893 while Dr __ rekindle the public's interest in many of these strange stories. References ¢ Dunn, Matthias, Studies Under The Sea, Hazell, Watson & Viney, 1901. * Story, Alfred T., The Sea-Serpent, Newnes, 1895. About the Author: C. D. Pollard is a former second-hand book dealer turned full-time writer, whose articles and short stories have been published in over 30 magazines in the UK, France, USA and, now, Australia and New Zealand. His first book, Classic Tastes, part of a series, is due to be published by Pipers’ Ash Ltd, UK, in late 1997. Mr Pollard has a peculiar obsession with the Victorian and Edwardian periods, particularly with rare literature and some of the more unusual goings-on of those times, be they Fortean or just plain eccentric. Working from his base in a small English village on the edge The Black Country, his aim is to rekindle the public's interest in many of these strange stories. 76 * NEXUS APRIL - MAY 1997 saurian type...”