Kent Sea Monster?
Sightings of
a sea serpent have been reported this week in Chatham in Kent, leaving many to
wonder whether the fabled Monster of The Medway has returned
to the river.
Estimated to
be 30 feet long, with A COW-LIKE HEAD and bulging green eyes, the ‘Monster of
the Medway’ was seen this week moving slowly through the water close to the
dockyard.
Dockyard
volunteer George Hornby said: “I was standing on the deck of HMS
CAVALIER, taking a few minutes for myself when I saw a long shadow moving
across the river. It seemed strange to me on a cloudy day to see a shadow
– it clearly wasn’t a reflection! Then I saw what looked like a head rise from
the water, bob and then snort and I knew that it wasn’t a shadow!”
This is not
the first time that a sea serpent has been spotted in the Medway.
On the 4th
October 1911 the Dublin Daily Express carried a story about a sea serpent who
was trailed in the Medway by a naval boat, with a nine-pounder gun in the bow,
sent in search of the monster who had been troubling the people of
Chatham. Back in October 1911, the naval boat reportedly fired shots at
the monster but it got away due to having “a bullet-proof carcase” that the
“shots have harmlessly rebounded from”.
Other
monstrous sightings have been recorded over the years in Chatham.
Lynnette Crisp, Director of Communications and Public Engagement here at
Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust said: “We have records in our archives
detailing the capture of a monster fish of eleven feet in length and girth of
six feet’ back in October 1850. There are also newspaper cuttings from
1911 detailing the thirty foot long serpent, headed like a cow, with green,
bulging eyes, and a jointed ridge the thickness of a man’s arm running along
its back. The newspaper reported scores of eye-witnesses who gave account
of this particular ‘Medway Monster’.”
The Medway
has undergone some work over the last decade with The Maritime Trust aerating
the basins, which has seen an increase in wildlife to the region. Grant
Leathwhite from Chatham Maritime Trust said: “I’ve had a hunch about the
presence of monsters in the Medway for quite some time. 15 Aeration heads are
based in Basin 2 and have been in place for about 5 years and this has resulted
in significant life coming back to the Basin. We do have some fairly large
jellyfish in there. Basin 1 is where the Seals, Rays, Eels come in through the
lock gates from the Medway. Who knows if more mysterious life has also come
back?”
Here at the
dockyard, the team are unsure whether the recent sighting this week is the
original Sea Serpent from 1911 or a descendent of the beast. Sadly, the
eyewitnesses who saw the beast was too shocked to reach for his phone and take
a photograph.
Lynnette
Crisp, added: “we have alerted everyone in the Dockyard and asked all to keep a
watching brief – we believe that we should find it easier to catalogue this
particular monster now that everyone carries a camera phone with them these
days – unlike in 1911!”
Seems genuine until you check the date April 1st !
t
