08-14-2003, 01:05 AM
1734, a Norwegian missionary named Hans Egede took a voyage to Greenland. Here's his undenied report,
" on the 6th of July 1734 there appeared a very terrible sea-animal which raised itself above the water. It's head seemed to reach the maintop. It had a long sharp snout, it blew like a whale, had broad large flappers and the body was, as it were, covered with a hard skin, very wrinkled. Moreover, the lower part was snakelike. When it submerged it raised its tail above the water, a whole ship length from its body."
At daybreak in January 1984, Jim Thompson a mechanical engineer from Bellingham, Washington was fishing for Chinook Salmon, off the Spanish Banks, about five miles from Vancouver, B.C. All of a sudden he reports a sea-like animal surfaced 200 feet away from him. It was some 20 feet long, and at least two feet wide. Thompson further said it had a,
"whitish-tan throat, bumps like giraffe horns, large floppy ears and a some what, pointed black snout. The shyly curious animal seemed surprised at seeing me. It quickly headed out to sea swimming efficiently by up and down wriggling. "
Last month fishermen in the icy Ross Sea encountered a deep-sea giant.
Almost 20 feet (6 meters) long, with spiked tentacles and huge, protruding eyes, it was feeding on Patagonian toothfish caught on longlines set by the fishermen.
The creature was hauled aboard and taken to New Zealand for analysis. This confirmed the encounter as the first live sighting of a colossal squid.
Usually called Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, scientists who examined the Ross Sea specimen coined the term "colossal squid" to distinguish it from giant squid (Architeuthis). They say the species is the biggest and most fearsome squid known to science and could grow to 40 feet (12 meters) in length—longer than a whale. Toward the end of World War I the German submarine UB-85 was caught on the surface, during the day, and sunk by a British patrol boat. The crew abandoned the sub and was picked up by the British. The U-boat commander, Captain Krech was questioned about why he had been cruising on the surface and he told this tale: The sub had been recharging batteries at night on the surface when without any kind of warning a "strange beast" began to climb aboard from the sea. "This beast had large eyes, set in a horny sort of skull. It had a small head, but with teeth that could be seen glistening in the moonlight." The animal was so large that it forced the U-boat to list greatly to starboard. The captain feared an open hatch would drop below the waterline, flooding the sub and sinking it. "Every man on watch began firing a sidearm at the beast," Krech continued. The animal had hold of the forward gun mount and would not let go.
The battle continued until the animal dropped back into the sea. In the struggle, though, the forward deck plating had been damaged and the sub could no longer submerge
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" on the 6th of July 1734 there appeared a very terrible sea-animal which raised itself above the water. It's head seemed to reach the maintop. It had a long sharp snout, it blew like a whale, had broad large flappers and the body was, as it were, covered with a hard skin, very wrinkled. Moreover, the lower part was snakelike. When it submerged it raised its tail above the water, a whole ship length from its body."
At daybreak in January 1984, Jim Thompson a mechanical engineer from Bellingham, Washington was fishing for Chinook Salmon, off the Spanish Banks, about five miles from Vancouver, B.C. All of a sudden he reports a sea-like animal surfaced 200 feet away from him. It was some 20 feet long, and at least two feet wide. Thompson further said it had a,
"whitish-tan throat, bumps like giraffe horns, large floppy ears and a some what, pointed black snout. The shyly curious animal seemed surprised at seeing me. It quickly headed out to sea swimming efficiently by up and down wriggling. "
Last month fishermen in the icy Ross Sea encountered a deep-sea giant.
Almost 20 feet (6 meters) long, with spiked tentacles and huge, protruding eyes, it was feeding on Patagonian toothfish caught on longlines set by the fishermen.
The creature was hauled aboard and taken to New Zealand for analysis. This confirmed the encounter as the first live sighting of a colossal squid.
Usually called Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, scientists who examined the Ross Sea specimen coined the term "colossal squid" to distinguish it from giant squid (Architeuthis). They say the species is the biggest and most fearsome squid known to science and could grow to 40 feet (12 meters) in length—longer than a whale. Toward the end of World War I the German submarine UB-85 was caught on the surface, during the day, and sunk by a British patrol boat. The crew abandoned the sub and was picked up by the British. The U-boat commander, Captain Krech was questioned about why he had been cruising on the surface and he told this tale: The sub had been recharging batteries at night on the surface when without any kind of warning a "strange beast" began to climb aboard from the sea. "This beast had large eyes, set in a horny sort of skull. It had a small head, but with teeth that could be seen glistening in the moonlight." The animal was so large that it forced the U-boat to list greatly to starboard. The captain feared an open hatch would drop below the waterline, flooding the sub and sinking it. "Every man on watch began firing a sidearm at the beast," Krech continued. The animal had hold of the forward gun mount and would not let go.
The battle continued until the animal dropped back into the sea. In the struggle, though, the forward deck plating had been damaged and the sub could no longer submerge
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