SEEN 21 TIMES IN FOUR WEEKS
PHOTOGRAPHS BY WATCHERS
From a correspondent
The four weeks' search for the Loch Ness monster, organized by Sir Edward Mountain, chairman of the Eagle, Star and British Dominions Insurance Company, Limited, came to an end last night. During the four weeks the creature was observed by the watchers on 21 occasions.
Photographing a marine creature proved extremely difficult, but photographs which clearly prove that there is some strange animal in the loch were secured and were made public last night. Since visibility and weather were generally bad during the last fortnight of the organized search, Sir Edward Mountain has decided to continue it for one more week, and has now put two much more powerful cameras in the most likely places.
Great precautions were taken, in organizing the search, to make certain that there would be no tampering with the films. Arrangements were made with Kodak, Limited, who supplied the cameras, that all films should be sealed and developed by the company's chief chemist. The 20 watchers and their supervisor, Captain James Fraser, were also equipped with powerful field glasses. The search has gone on under conditions of almost military precision, with a careful distribution of watchers at places most likely to yield satisfactory photographs.
THE CREATURE'S SPEED
in the main the accounts given by the watchers agree that when on the surface the monster displays a very small head relative to the size of its body, and moves along the water in such a way as to show either two or three humps. All accounts agree that when on the surface the creature moves with remarkable speed, which greatly complicates attempts to photograph it. On the other hand, it creates a tremendous wash, which can clearly be seen in one of the pictures reproduced.
The watchers were enthusiastic about their work, and some stayed on duty longer hours than they were asked to do in the hope of getting better photographs. The search has convinced most of the sceptics in the neighbourhood of the loch, and it has provided approximately 110 weeks of work for unemployed men in Inverness.
From The Times, August 9th, 1934.
