Evening star., 1935-10-20

- eler who on his journeys
catches a glimpse of a sea SER
L pent, for science says they do
not exist. Yet they have been seen
and by reputable globe trotters ct
that-Rudyard Kipling. and the late
Lord Northcliff and ships officers, for
instance. But alas, the monsters have
been like the fiSherman's prize catch
they got away.
Jean Chiappe, famous prefect OF
Paris who was deposed by the Stavisky
scandal, has collected sea serpent lore
for years. He sits on the fence, saying
they have existed actually or In i'm
agination for four or five centuries.
In Columbus time, the men who
went down to the sea in ships feared
the broad Atlantic was little more than
a mass of monsters with bit of ocean
around the edges. Admittedly, they
exaggerated somewhat. But II they
brought their less fragrant myths to
the enlightened twentieth century,
they woud find ready listeners. The
sea serpent controversy which ragged
last year proved the public was at
least intrigued by the idea, science to
the contrary Notwithstanding.
THE savants' last great bout with
the eye-witnesses began in the
Fall of 1888. A strange animal ap-
peared in Loeb Ness. near Inverness,
Scotland. In a short time, accounts
of its temperamental antics were
tickling the world.
Moving picture expeditions were dis
patched to Loeb Ness. They emerged
with pictures at which the Skeptics
scoffed. London was inclined to be-
lieve the creature looked like the trunk
of tree.
Then came absolute proof" at least
for some Arthur Grant, a veterinary
student of Edinburgh, reported that he
almost collided with strange, hulk
ing beast while motor cycling along
the lochside early one moonlight, jan
uary morning. He was almost upon
the black object when he realized he
was looking at something no man in
his right mind should see. A small,
eel-like head on a long neck turned in
his direction. Large oval eyes glanced
at him.
1t leaped across the road in two
bounds. its hefty body glistening in
the moonlight. Grant distinctly saw
two front fippers. Two ridges ran
| down the back Then came a tail, S
or feet long. 1t was blunted.
With a great splash the animal dis
appeared into the water.
SEA SERPENTS then began bobbing
~ up everywhere-off the coast Of
France, in the Caribbean and the Pa
cific. One off Vancouver, B. c., had
already been named-Amy Cadboro-
saurus. She had been cavorting in the
Juan de Fuca and Georgia Straits for
decade or more, and had a tre-
mendous fan following. She was af-
fectionately known in the region as
"Amiable Amy" She reappeared and
added to the hubbub.
Amiable though she might have
been, at close range she was terrifying.
A hunters sworn affidavit attests her
bloodthirsty disposition. C. B. An
drews, a Bedwell Harbor, B. c., nim-
rod, put this on the official document:
He and another chap were duck hunt
ing in row boat. He saw huge eel
like creature indistinctly under the
water, and as his companion rowed to
retrieve a wounded duck struggling on
the water, the thing" darted to the
surface Up popped head feet wide
and 3 feet long. 1t looked like
horse, but was earleSs and without
nostrils. Twelve feet of neck stretched
behind. Nor was that all. Forty more
feet of body, about 2 feet thick. were
gracefully arched in and out of the
water beyond.
Amy darted for the duck and
snatched it almost from under the bow
of the boat. The bird was held mo-
mentarily in. his fishlike teeth. then
gulped it down whole. A pointed
tongue darted across its lips. Belliger-
ent gulls swooped down, wheeling
and crying about the monster. Amy
snapped at them viciously. So the
story goes.
The hunters hastily rowed ashore,
calling excitedly to other Bedwell
harborites. A score or more came,
among them Justice of the Peace G. F.
Parkyn. About 40 yards of shore,
Amy broke the surface of the water
again, and with head erect, glided
smoothly away. They saw it.
CCIENCE thought it time to inter-
- vene for sanity, or, at least, re-
straint. 1t explained. The strange
things were squids. octopi or overgrown
seals. magnified by Imagination
Letters poured in on editors, and in