Retro: Sea monster in Belfast Lough beached and killed on Copelands (1904)
Following the reports which had recently circulated as to the presence of a strange sea monster in Belfast Lough, the News Letter had, during this week in 1904, received a letter from a resident on the Copeland Islands.
He stated that on the 5th September “great excitement” was caused on the islands when it became known that a huge snake-like fish had been stranded in the shoal on Horse Point.
The Copeland Island correspondent stated that he and his brother had been out walking when they observed the water in the shoal being lashed about as if by a whale.
They wrote: “The tide was out at the time, an on approaching the spot we were amazed to see a monster fish swimming about. Too terrified to go any closer, we were at a loss what to do but realising that the incoming tide would liberate the monster, I despatched my brother for a gun and told him to bring the boat round.”
The correspondent added: “It took us all our time to kill the beast, and it was only after four shots had been fired into him that be stopped kicking. We then grappled him, but try as we might we could not get him to budge, so John went and brought two other men and a pony, and among us all we beached him at last.”
Describing the capture, the correspondent stated that he measured it and found it to be nearly 30 feet long, and about 6 feet round at its upper tins. The body tapered to about 6 inches at the tail, which was fan-like. There are three large fins, two on the back and one on the belly. The mouth, nose, and eyes resembled those of a conger eel, but were about five times as large. The body was covered with scales.
The letter writer said that he was an old man, had lived all his life on the Copelands, and had “seen most queer fishes, but never anything like this”.
He stated that if any Belfast gentlemen would care to examine the monster that he or any of the residents on the islands would, on being signalled for, take them from Donaghadee pier to where the body had been is beached. He added that he would have communicated with the News Letter’s Belfast office sooner but for the fact that during the past two days the weather had been “too wild to permit of getting across to the mainland”.