Friday 23 October 2015

Loch Fyne monster or Marine Mammal?

Divers recently captured footage of dolphins playing in Loch Fyne.

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/scotland/730817/video-diver-captures-magical-underwater-footage-dolphins-scottish-loch/


There are tales about a monster in the Loch but from many centuries ago.
A paragraph in the book by Sir Archibald Dunbar ‘Scottish Kings’ (1899) stated that in July 1570  a creature which was the size of a ship’s mast was seen to surface in Loch Fyne. It was described as having“great eyes”. It was said locally that sometime later a huge unidentified carcass was found on the banks of the loch. No further information was available. It is not the supernatural event that is supposed to take place on the Loch, in the waters  close  to Inveraray there is supposed to be a phantom ship which marks the imminent death of a senior member of the Campbell clan. It was last sighted in 1913 when three members of the ship’s crew were seen on  deck. It also moves over land.
So folk tales you may think but then I came across an article in The Glasgow Herald from 17th August 1949.
Mr P Talbot of Caernarvonshire was on a yachting holiday. His chauffeur was with him according to the article. They saw a great creature in the Loch. It was described as 25-30 feet long with a dorsal hump or fin. It had a long neck about 2 feet out of the water and a white face. He was about an hour away from Ardrishaig sailing in the yacht and the creature was about 80 yards away.
See the original article here:
Basking Sharks are known to enter the Loch and in 1939 it was reported that one 30 feet long startled two fishermen.So could the white faced monster have been the face of a dolphin standing out of the water with others in the water behind   it?  It was 80 yards away. However you would have thought most people would recognise a dolphin.Something to ponder on a Friday  afternoon .

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