DRAGGED FROM BOAT
Moonah Man’s Strange Tale
Attacked by Sea Beast
Was It a Sea Lion ?
Derision in some quarters greeted the statement of a Moonah resident that while fishing off East Risdon he was dragged from his boat and mauled by a sea beast, but the marks of teeth and deep wounds in his leg, for which he is receiving treatment at the Hobart Public Hospital, are strong corroboration of his story.
The extraordinary tale told by Mr. George Morris , of Alberton Road, Moonah, is that with Mr. Charles Speed, also of Alberton Road, he was engaged in fishing from a boat about 30 yards from the shore at East Risdon, when he noticed a sea monster of some sort swim round the boat twice, and then disappear.
He thought no more of it, and his hand still held the fishing line beside the boat, when suddenly the sea animal rose from beside the boat, placed its forepaws on the side, gripped bim by the leg with its teeth, and pulled him overboard.
He clutched at the side of the boat, and his companion seized an oar to attack the creature, but he was dragged several yards from the boat, and states that he touched the bottom, which was about 7ft. down. Mr. Morris believes he must have kicked the creature in the eyes with his free foot during this period, and was released.
He struggled back to the boat (being fortunately able to swim), in spite of his sodden overcoat and injured leg and all, rowed back across the river to Prince of Wales Bay, his companion being unable to row.
TEETH MARKS IN LEG
He was taken home, and Dr. D. S. Henderson, otf Moonah, summoned to attend him. Dr. Henderson dressed the wound, which he states showed large teeth marks several inches apart, in the calf of his leg, and on Saturday morning sent him to the Hobart Public Hospital for treatment.
Questioned yesterday as to the appearance of his attacker. Mr. Morris stated that its forepaws gripped the side of the boat. Its head was small, but had very large teeth. Both legs of his trousers were torn, and the uninjured leg marked slightly. From descriptions given to him later he was of opinion that possibly the beast was a sea lion, one of which had been shot in the Derwent recently.
It was suggested that if this were so the creature might have had designs on the fish which was the result of the afternoon’s sport, and of which there were several dozen in the bottom of the boat. From what he had been told it did not seem a common thing for such ocean creatures to attack human beings.
“Whatever it was,” he said, “I was quite ‘done in’ when I got home. No more fishing for me!” He added that local residents had since been on the river in a search for the creature. It was stated on inquiry at the hospital last night that his condition was improved.
MR. SPEED’S STORY
Differing only in minor points, the story of Mr. Morris’s companion, Mr. Charles Speed, is corroborative in the main. Mr. Speed states that he was fishing in the stern of the boat, and on the other side. He saw the creature swim round, then heard a hissing sound, and, turning round, saw it rear up beside the boat and come down on the gunwale as it seized Morris’s overcoat.
The tilting of the boat, combined with the grip the animal had on his coat, threw Morris overboard, when apparently the animal let go. As he swam back to the boat, it seized his leg, due, he believed, to the fact that his trousers rumpled and exposed his leg. Morris was towed about 10 yards by the leg, and well under the surface. He appeared to be under over a minute, and when he came up was in a bad way.
Mr. Speed says that his glimpse of the animal as the boat tilted, and then swung back, nearly throwing him also into the water, showed it to be very large. It was brown in colour, and glossy, with a flat back, as broad as a man’s shoulders, and with a chest pointed, like a boat’s bows. It’s head was flat, and its face appeared somewhat like a pig’s snout. “I should judge there must have been about 2 cwt. of it,” he said, “but it was all so quick that I did not get much of a look at it.”*
“When George came up I saw it swimming away up the river, with just its head out of the water. I think he is a lucky man to be where he is. If it had been a smaller boat I should not have seen him again.” He added that if he ever went fishing again he would take an axe, though on this occasion it would have been useless if he had had it.
When they were near the shore they obtained a tow, and the injured man was picked up in a car and taken home. “His leg was bitten right through,” said Mr. Speed, and he was in a pretty bad way.
It is understood that the police have obtained a report of the occurrence.
– The Mercury, 10 November 1930.
* a cwt or hundredweight is equivalent to about 50 kilograms, hence his estimation of the sea monster is about 100 kilograms.
