Richard Muirhead is an old friend of the CFZ. I have been friends with him for 40 years now, since we were kids together in Hong Kong. He is undoubtedly one of the two best researchers I have ever met; he and Nigel Wright both have what Charlie Fort would have no doubt called a wild talent; a talent for going into a library, unearthing a stack of old newspapers, and coming back with some hitherto overlooked gem of arcane knowledge. Twice a week he wanders into the Macclesfield Public Library and comes out with enough material for a blog post.. Dear folks
Sorry I`ve been away for so long, I have no excuse so I won`t attempt to make one! I am now presenting part 1 of an archive of newspaper cuttings relating to invasions of octopi along the south coast of Britain in the early 1950s. Some of the dates are illegible as are some of the names of the newspapers (but probably the forerunner to the Brighton and Hove Leader) so I have made educated guesses. I have three reports from the 1970s. Not every report is included,only those deemed to be of interest and at the same time not the whole report.
August 16th 1950: “They`re a Catching Complaint” : Instead of the usual dabs and whiting, fishermen at the end of Brighton`s Palace Pier have been pushing ashore octopuses. On Monday no fewer than were caught were caught……Piermaster Capt.Fred Weeks told a reporter,”We are used to catching one or two each season,but this has been a most unusual crop. I`ve been on this Pier since 1928 and I`ve never known so many to be caught together…..FOOTNOTE: Largest octopus “plague” was in 1899. It had such a ruinous effect on the shell fisheries that lobster fishermen were forced to seek other employment. A more minor “plague” occurred at Brighton in December 1922 ,when the beaches were littered with thousands of dead octopuses thrown up after a storm.”
August 28th 1950: “Kill The Octopus” Other unwelcome marine “monsters” not usually frequenting our shores, have been joining in the cross-Channel swim, which again seems to prove that the Channel is warming up. B.W. Downes Castle-square Brighton”
September 8th 1950: “Octopuses (?) Lobster Pots Waters Infested”. Nothing much new on this date. “ Selsey is not the only place where the octopus plague is being experienced. It is affecting fishing on the Dorset and Devonshire coasts, and some hundreds of small ones have been washed up on th
e beach at Brighton.”
September 14th 1950: “Octopus Menace.” Not much of interest here, a final comment stating:
Sorry I`ve been away for so long, I have no excuse so I won`t attempt to make one! I am now presenting part 1 of an archive of newspaper cuttings relating to invasions of octopi along the south coast of Britain in the early 1950s. Some of the dates are illegible as are some of the names of the newspapers (but probably the forerunner to the Brighton and Hove Leader) so I have made educated guesses. I have three reports from the 1970s. Not every report is included,only those deemed to be of interest and at the same time not the whole report.
August 16th 1950: “They`re a Catching Complaint” : Instead of the usual dabs and whiting, fishermen at the end of Brighton`s Palace Pier have been pushing ashore octopuses. On Monday no fewer than were caught were caught……Piermaster Capt.Fred Weeks told a reporter,”We are used to catching one or two each season,but this has been a most unusual crop. I`ve been on this Pier since 1928 and I`ve never known so many to be caught together…..FOOTNOTE: Largest octopus “plague” was in 1899. It had such a ruinous effect on the shell fisheries that lobster fishermen were forced to seek other employment. A more minor “plague” occurred at Brighton in December 1922 ,when the beaches were littered with thousands of dead octopuses thrown up after a storm.”
August 28th 1950: “Kill The Octopus” Other unwelcome marine “monsters” not usually frequenting our shores, have been joining in the cross-Channel swim, which again seems to prove that the Channel is warming up. B.W. Downes Castle-square Brighton”
September 8th 1950: “Octopuses (?) Lobster Pots Waters Infested”. Nothing much new on this date. “ Selsey is not the only place where the octopus plague is being experienced. It is affecting fishing on the Dorset and Devonshire coasts, and some hundreds of small ones have been washed up on th
e beach at Brighton.”September 14th 1950: “Octopus Menace.” Not much of interest here, a final comment stating:
”Fishermen hope,however, that nature will solve the problem in the same way that she set it. The advent of colder weather this autumn will either kill the octopuses or drive them to warmer grounds.”
September 15th 1950 [Hants Post. No headline.] …..” It is believed that the octopuses get too crowded on the French side of the Channel where they breed and come over to the coast of Southern England….”
September 16th 1950: ”Sussex Waters Plagued by Octopuses” This month hundreds of these loathsome molluscs some measuring over three feet across,have been reported near Selsey where they are causing havoc in the shell-fishing industry….[here the journalist goes on to describe giant octopi:…. "The boats of native Japanese fishermen have been upset by such huge creatures…”
October 30th 1950: Octopus activity was also present off Worthing: “Octopus Caught” A baby octopus, about 3ft 6ins long was caught by Mr W.Belton and Mr E.Edwards in their fishing nets off Worthing early today. “It was hanging on to a red mullet.” said Mr Belton.
Here concludes part 1 of the review. I will attempt to conclude with Part 2 before I go abroad on May 9th.
September 15th 1950 [Hants Post. No headline.] …..” It is believed that the octopuses get too crowded on the French side of the Channel where they breed and come over to the coast of Southern England….”
September 16th 1950: ”Sussex Waters Plagued by Octopuses” This month hundreds of these loathsome molluscs some measuring over three feet across,have been reported near Selsey where they are causing havoc in the shell-fishing industry….[here the journalist goes on to describe giant octopi:…. "The boats of native Japanese fishermen have been upset by such huge creatures…”
October 30th 1950: Octopus activity was also present off Worthing: “Octopus Caught” A baby octopus, about 3ft 6ins long was caught by Mr W.Belton and Mr E.Edwards in their fishing nets off Worthing early today. “It was hanging on to a red mullet.” said Mr Belton.
Here concludes part 1 of the review. I will attempt to conclude with Part 2 before I go abroad on May 9th.
Now a look at a curious observation by the 17th century naturalist and antiquarian John Aubrey in MS Aubrey 1 in the Bodlean Library,Oxford.: “ I have been told heretofore, that in the ruins of Bampton Castle Oxfordshire have been found Scorpions….let it be further examined.”(c.1685) also, "In Warrens (?) are found rarely some stotes, quite white, that is they are ermines. My keeper of Vernditch Warren * hath showed two or three of them to me. Every Warrener knows this to be so but all stotes are white under the bellies". MS Aubrey 1.* Wiltshire-Dorset border?
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