In Animals & Men #42 we published the following story:Numerous people reported seeing something unusual swimming against the tide in the River Medway as it passed through the town of Rochester in Kent, England.Several people thought that it may have been a school of dolphins but one lady reported seeing a single 9m (30ft) long creature. She said the animal was grey to mottled brown and moved like an eel in the direction of the Amadeus nightclub. This picture, by the way, was a mock up by the paper’s art department.
Yesterday teatime we received this e-mail from a CFZ member called Patrick Noble:
"Afternoon Jon (and probably Oll as you wrote the article), After seeing the article mentioned above I had a little chuckle to myself, as I live about 100yds downstream on a houseboat, and am very much aware of the natural way of things in the river. Needless to say 9m long sea serpents are not something I can attest to seeing on a regular basis! I though the dolphins to be a plausible but unlikely theory, however they are not unheard of in this area.
I thought it more likely to be a piece of tree floating along as this is frequent at this spot. I took these photos today of the lesser horned sea serpent from the back of the boat earlier today, hope you enjoy! Seriously freak high tide today as well, flooded the boatyard, about 4ft higher than I've ever seen it before.
On a more naturalist than crypto note, I firmly belive that the new british record Thick Lipped Grey Mullet will be caught from the medway in the next 5 years, even though the species is in decline for a variety of reasons not helped by it's slow growing and late maturing nature.
Kind Regards
Patrick"
Patrick"
With regards to the River Merdway 'monster'. The original sighting resembled nothing like the drift wood and other junk the river often sees on a daily basis. Several witnesses described seeing a very long 'creature', or possibly a string of creatures (porpoises ?) moving towards the section of water near Amadeus nigthclub. The object(s) was described as brown in colour and moving steadily. Although eye-witness reports do not always match-up, in this instant the witnesses all believed it to be a living creature, especially as they viewed the beast(s) from close quarters. Records in the past have shown that porpoises, seals and whales have all made their way into the Medway at some point.
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