Monsters and Myths

The “Association of Maritime Research” is calling for witnesses to come forward pertaining to sightings of a mysterious creature in the English Channel off the coast of Dover. A reward is being offered for information leading to proof of the creature’s existence.

“On 20th April 2009 Thierry and Sophie were enjoying a walk at the Boulogne Harbour. They are both passionate about boats and sea-life and intended filming the variety of boats sailing out of the harbour. As Thierry was filming, his eye glued to the lens, he suddenly became aware of a large shape which appeared on the horizon. Intrigued, he zoomed the camera in to focus more clearly and saw a huge, dark, rapidly moving object, which disappeared within a matter of seconds. Something of an amateur expert about the sea and marine life, he knew this was not simply the outline of a whale or any similar creature and was convinced that he had sighted some phenomenon as yet unseen by man. He decided to contact the AMR who are pursuing further investigations.

Now they need your help. The AMR are appealing for witnesses to come forward and help them find the Channel Creature, or similar sea monsters. Anyone who gives evidence leading directly to proof of the creature’s existence will receive a reward. “

Source: channelcreature.com

NORTHWEST COVE — Bloodshot eyes as big as saucers, a body coated in mossy hair, spinal protrusions along undulating bodies covered in scales 15 centimetres long. These are just some characteristics of the “denizens of the deep” spotted off the coast of Nova Scotia as recently as a few years ago.

Sea captains have seen them. Military men have seen them. And Andrew Hebda, curator of zoology with the Nova Scotia Museum, says there’s definitely something to these sightings of monsters and sea serpents.

The question is what?

Granted, he said, there’s no doubt some creatures were likely seen through the bottom of a rum bottle, “but the point is, they saw something.”

In 2003, Wallace Cartwright was in his lobster boat off Alder Point, Cape Breton, when he saw a sea serpent about eight metres long. It was the diameter of an oil drum and he followed it until it dove down deep and disappeared.

Two hundred years earlier, a woman by the name of Mrs. W. Lee saw a 30-metre sea monster off the coast of Cape Breton. “Its back was dark green and it stood in the water in flexuous hillocks and went through it with infectious noise,” says one account of her sighting.

Pretty enthralling stuff for Mr. Hebda, who is writing a book on these mysterious creatures of the deep.

He spoke at the community centre here on Sunday at an event hosted by the Athenaeum Society of Nova Scotia. “You’re in sea monster central in Nova Scotia,” he told them.

In 1833, five fellows were out fishing off Mahone Bay when they reported seeing a monster some 180 metres from their boat. They provided good detail despite the rum they had drunk.

It was about 31 metres long. “We saw the head and neck of some denizen of the deep, precisely like those of a common snake, in the act of swimming, the head so far elevated and thrown forward by the curve of the neck as to enable to see the water under and beyond it.”

There have been pockets of such sightings around the province, many of them quite similar despite the decades, if not centuries, that pass between them. And they tend to be in warmer waters, shipping channels and fishing grounds.

Many of them have been off the South Shore, as well as the Pictou area and Cape Breton.

Mr. Hebda is writing a book about sea monster sightings and has been inspired by the detailed accounts he’s collected. In 1975, Keith Ross was in his boat off Cape Sable Island with his son Rodney when a sight suddenly rose before them. “It had eyes as big around as saucers and bright red-looking. I mean, you could see the red in its eyes like they were bloodshot. It had its mouth wide open and there were two big tusks — I call them tusks — that hung down from its upper jaw.”

Mr. Ross roared his boat away from the grey, snake-like body as it passed astern.

The Mi’kmaq first recorded similar serpents in petroglyphs found at Kejimkujik National Park. The first documented account was by Nicolas Denys of a merman spotted in Canso Harbour in 1656. The first reported sighting in Halifax Harbour was of an 18-metre serpent in 1825.

The fishermen’s world revolves around things they see every day. Mr. Hebda said when they see something unusual, they want to know what it is. Sometimes the answer is quite innocuous. Often the truth will never be known.

For instance, Mr. Cartwright may well have seen an oarfish, also known as the king of the herring, when he was working off Cape Breton six years ago. “Do we know everything that’s out there? No, no we don’t. Have we seen everything that’s out there? No, now we haven’t,” but Mr. Hebda suspects there’s an explanation for pretty much every case — whether it’s a rare tropical fish brought north by warm currents or the distorted vision produced by the thick glass at the bottom of a bottle of spirits.

Mr. Ross hadn’t been drinking when he saw that tusked animal with the bloodshot eyes. But Mr Hebda said that’s also the year officials confirmed and photographed a walrus in the area.

“People see things, they try to figure out what they saw,” he said.

“Yes, they did see something. What is it? Therein lies the challenge. It’s a voyage of exploration to see what it is.”

Source: thechronicleherald

Three new large marine mammals, so-called sea-serpents, are extremely likely to be discovered according to researchers.

In a paper published today, a team of scientists conclude that three new unusual species might await discovery, all of which may belong to the group of marine mammals known as pinnipeds. The best known pinnipeds are seals, sea lions and walruses.

The team used a combination of statistical analysis and eyewitness reports to evaluate the existence of unknown large sea animals.

Led by doctoral student Mr Michael Woodley of Royal Holloway, University of London, who worked with Dr Darren Naish of the University of Portsmouth, and Dr Hugh Shanahan, also of Royal Holloway, the team used two different statistical models to estimate the number of unknown pinnipeds. The paper was published in the academic journal Historical Biology.

“While the low number of three possible new pinniped species matched our statistical expectations, there is a need for scepticism as all known pinnipeds are noisy animals with close ties to land”, said Mr Woodley.

“These pinnipeds would have to possess some exceptional characteristics, if they exist.”

One of the team’s two models suggested that 15 such species might remain to be discovered, however that was regarded as a significant overestimation, Mr Woodley said.

According to the researchers the discovery of several large marine animals during the last 30 years demonstrates that there are sea mammals in existence which have so far remained undiscovered.

Examples of these animals include the Lesser or Peruvian beaked whale, a strikingly marked whale from the eastern Pacific, which was discovered in 1975; the Megamouth, a giant, filter-feeding shark known from tropical seas worldwide, discovered in 1976; and the Indonesian coelacanth, a deep-sea fish with a striking metallic sheen, was discovered in 1998. Omura’s whale, a close relative of the gigantic Blue whale, was only discovered in the late 1970s.

The study of animals that have yet to be verified by science – sea-serpents and similar enigmatic creatures – is known as cryptozoology. According to Mr Woodley, cryptozoological literature includes hundreds of accounts of mysterious large marine animals, many going back hundreds of years.

“Many sightings have been made by trained observers, including military personnel and experienced naturalists,” he said.

“Over the years, cryptozoologists have suggested that several sea-serpents might be unusual types of pinniped.”

Among the best known of these is a creature sometimes called the merhorse. Supposedly a gigantic, long-bodied, deep-water animal 4 to 30 meters long, it is not only known from sightings, but also from a carcass found in the stomach of a whale in 1937.

A second relevant mystery animal is the long-necked sea-serpent, supposedly a plesiosaur-like sea lion with a 2-3 meter long neck. A third creature is the Tizheruk, a semi-mythological seal-like water monster of the Pacific Arctic is described as long-bodied, and with a snake-like head.

“We consider that if such creatures as the merhorse and long-necked sea-serpent exist, they must be extremely rare. They must also dwell in remote and seldom visited regions of the oceans,” said Mr Woodley.