Vol. VIII. No. 10. October, 1961 - Varen Is Fijner

c
A MONTHLY PUBLICATION
FOR ALL PERSONNEL OF THE
Vol. VIII. No. 10. October, 1961

Mr H. F.gberinli.
greets his brother
F•·om I. to r: Mrurs C.L.C. van Kretschmar , H .C.G.L. Ribbink (act/1/g as Sec.) , P.V.C.E. Lirbemclwtz, j.l'!t. Roosegaarde fliuchop.
D . Rcyneker, j .F. Egberink, P.A . de Loos, W.M . de Haan , / .R . van Ouelen and J.M. Hens.
MANAGERS' CONFERENCE
From 18th September to 23rd September, a Conference was held in Hong Kong Head
Office, to which the following came to confer with Managing Directors:
Mr P.V.C.E. Liebenschutz, Manager for Hong Kong and China.
J.F. Egberink, General Manager for Africa.
, P.A. de Loos, General Manager for Australia and New Zealand.
, J .Ph. Roosegaarde Bisschop, Manager for Japan.
Mr D. Reyneker, Manager for Singapore and Malaya, was also present at this meeting.
The Agenda comprised nearly fifty items for discussion.
i\1r Liebcnsclwtz
bustles into HO
Mr de Loos' and Mr Reyneker
arc met by Mr E .. \1. van Rhoon
Mr Roosegaardc Bisschop is
met by Mr H .F. Veugelers

There are few issues that have so excited public imagination
as that of the existence of so-called 'Sea-serpents'. For
more than two hundred years there have been reports by
serious and reliable persons who claim to have seen unknown
marine creatures of large size moving on the surface
of the seas. Only quite recently last year two men out
in a dinghy off Aberdeen, Scotland, sat petrified while an
unknown, huge sea animal swam past them. They
described the creature as being like some horrible monster
out of prehistoric times. It was four to five feet broad on
the waterline and rose sharply to a knife edge at the
ridge. The two men heard it breathing and said it had a
reptilian head about two and a half feet long with large
protruding eyes. This must have been a remarkable experience,
all the more since it has been reliably reported
that a similar creature has been seen in the same area
no less than three times during the past century.
O ne of the oldest tales of seafaring folk concerned the
existence of the terrible Kraken. This was said to be
an enormous creature with long arms that could almost
envelop a ship and sink it - we must remember the tiny
size of early ships. For long the existence of such a
creature was dismissed as a fanciful tale of seafaring folk
out to impress the stay-at-homes. Despite this, however,
the existence of the now well-known giant sguitl was firmly
established somewhat less than a century ago. Some of
these creatures are believed to attain a length not far short
of one hundred feet, and they have been suggested as the
real origin of the sea-serpent legend.
In this matter of sea-serpents, however, during the past
two centuries there have been hundreds of apparently
positive accounts from all over the world, many by people
of unquestioned integrity and position, who saw the animals
clear! y, so that it seems incredible that the existence of at
least one unknown type of large marine animal has not
r66
Report by
Profes.•w r J.L.B. Smith
been generally accepted by scientists and laymen. These
records come from all over the world, and one cannot help
being struck by the general similarity of the detail reported.
All indicate some huge animal from forty to ninety feet
or more in length. As outlined below, the evidence points
to at least three different types of these large, unknown
creatures.
Those who affect to disbelieve the evidence about seaserpents
make a great point of the fact that no photograph
of one has ever been produced. This is, however, not
difficult to understand. The sighting of one of these
animals is so rare an event that probably not one person
in many millions of those who voyage on the sea has
ever seen one. The chances of that one person being
ready with a camera, and close enough to take a good
picture, are almost infinitesimal. In any case, few people
out fish ing or sailing in small boats take valuable cameras
with them. Even if someone were so fortunate as to get
a pho:ograph there would still be many who would cast
doubts on its authenticity. Indeed, several photographs of
the 'Loch Ness Monster' have been taken without convincing
the general public of its existence.
One very early report of an unknown sea creature merits
attention because of the man who made it. He was one
Hans Egede, a Norwegian m:ssionary, and he saw this
animal while on a voyage to Greenland in 1734. Egede
was a man of the highest reputation and integrity - he
later became a bishop- and of the greatest standing in
his time. In his accoum of this sea-beast he was not
recording hearsay, but something very unusual that had
clearly impressed him. This is his description: -
' Anno 1734 July. On the 6th appeared a terrible seaanimal,
which raised itself so high above the water
that its head reached above our ma intop. It h as a

H 0 R N
PORTS OF CALL: TIMARU, N.Z.