Journalist, Paul Harrison investigated a report from fisherman, Tommy Graham, of a large unknown marine animal off the coast of Cumbria, England. This is his account:
It was about 2:25 pm, and I was out enjoying a pleasant afternoon doing a bit of private fishing from my small boat. I reckon I was about half a mile from the Silloth shoreline. I have always been one for being a bit skeptical about tales of monsters and sea serpents. Many of my fishing mates over the years have told me of their personal experiences. I have always thought it a bit odd that folk would talk of such things when they know people will laugh at them. Monsters of any description could not have been further from my mind when I suddenly saw commotion in the water about fifty yards out to sea to my right. Thinking that it might be a porpoise or something, I watched. A bloody great disturbance of the surface water followed, but for a few seconds nothing happened. Then, all of the sudden, up came this great dark hump, about five feet long and 18 inches out of the water; honestly I thought it was a whale, it was so big. My heart skipped a beat or two, as I realized I was too close to this thing, and that it could cause some damage to my boat if it inadvertently collided with me. I hardly had to time to think about it, when up popped a submarine periscope-like head and neck; this was about three foot in front of the breaking body I just described. I’m not trained in these sorts of things, but the thing I saw resembled more of a dinosaur-like creature than any fish I’ve ever seen, and I think I’ve seen just about everything in my time. I have been on boats where we have mistaken floating seaweed of a sea monster before. Only when we got near did we realize what it really was.
The thing I saw could not be mistaken for anything but a large living creature. There seemed to be some kind of water disturbance on the side of the hump or breaking body I could see. From the size of body parts I saw, it must have been about thirty feet long, dark brown to black in colour, and had a neck which stood about three feet tall of the water. This seemed to have a sort of eel-like head on the top, by this I mean the head looked like that of an eel and was the same circumference and size of the neck. It seemed to look round, and in one movement flopped forward, dropping its neck and head into the water, disappearing in a huge foam of water. I got out of the area as quickly as soon as I could and made for the safety of the shore.
I can still see it in my mind now and, as sure as the light of day, I am not exaggerating one little bit. The sea was reasonably calm and the sun shining through a light cloud. My eyesight is good, I couldn’t mistake this creature from such a short distance…I’m no fool and don’t want the hassle of being the object of public amusement at my stage of life, so I have kept quiet about it until now.
Fishermen do not talk about sea-serpents, they are too busy concentrating on finding fish, a basic necessity for the occupation and making money. Every so often you meet with other crews who have seen strange objects rise out of the sea, too high to be waves in calm seas, these they describe as looking like the exposed hull of a small upturned boat, or tyre-shaped, they sink from view.