Whilst on the way to visit Jon on Tuesday March 27th I visited the Meteorological Office Library in Exeter, U.K after a tough and annoying trail through some back streets and bus stations. But the ordeal was worthwhile. I found the following story from The Marine Observer vol 12 1935 and I also found a log book of Natural History anomalies which I am going to quote from below.
However, first, the “ GIANT WATER SNAKE”.
The following is an extract from the Meteorological Record of S.S Port Bowen, Captain A.H. Brown, Fremantle to Perim, observer Mr R. Bittess 3rd officer.
On March 2nd , 1934, about 12.40pm while on passage from Fremantle to Perim a large water snake was seen from the bridge of this vessel. When first sighted it was about 300 yards away, one point aft side the beam on the starboard side. It was travelling along slowly in a direction approximately south-west or at right angles to the course, vessel steering 318 degrees. The head was held about two feet clear of the water while the rest of the body was lying either along or close underneath the surface of the sea. After a few seconds the head dropped and the whole of the snake was then seen lying along the top of the sea. The body was of a dirty yellowish colour with black markings along the back which were not easily discernable even with the aid of binoculars. The forward motion of the snake through the water was evidently supplied by a continuous wriggling movement from the head to the tail, as no fins of any shape or form were visible. Its speed was estimated to be about 2 knots, as the time taken from when it was first sighted to the position where it disappeared just clear of the vessels wake, was approximately four minutes. The length of the creature was estimated by observers to be about fifty feet, with a diameter of about two feet. The middle of the body was apparently of greater girth than the head or tail. After apparently diving on approaching the vessel`s wake nothing further was seen of it, although a good lookout was kept in case it appeared again. Weather fine and clear with passing clouds. Visibility excellent. Slight sea and S.S.E. swell. Nearest land Danger Island . Chagos Arch., 088 degrees , distant 170 miles. Position of vessel, Latitude 6 degrees 35` S ., Longitude 68 degrees 18` E.[Arabian Sea-R]
I also found 2 or 3 handwritten log books of anomalous natural history phenomenon observed by mariners over about 100 years, some of the observations are reproduced below:
August 23rd 1938: Fish, 50-100 ft long.
c.November 23rd 1990 Log 49105 Ship Liverpool Bay c 37 24 N 10 36 E [just off the coast of N.Tunisia-R] “Mermaid”.
February 9th 1994 Log 9430: Sea Serpent
March 21st 1998 Log 10182: Fish “like a ray. Never saw fish like it.”
August 16th 1998: Sea Serpent
Richard
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What you have here is another one of those reports about what Heuvelmans called the Yellow-Belly but did not maintain as a viable category. One of the things he said was that it might be a kind of a large shak like an unusual whale shark, and that just might fit the description too
ReplyDeleteBest Wishes, Dale D.