The Filey Sea Serpent 1934, (Part 2).

So to quickly recap:

Its 1934, Loch Ness is in the news and the worlds press are comparing any unusual aquatic phenomena to the supposed monster.

In January 1934, off the coast of Filey in Yorkshire, a sighting of swimming porpoises was initially mistaken for a sea serpent. In February a large seal like predator was being blamed for fishing losses and an eight foot, pinniped like animal with ears, a possible mane and a distinct neck had also been sighted.  

Then in March, B. Harbert a Filey coastguard,had an encounter with a creature on land which sounds a lot like a sea lion albeit much bigger. Had he encountered a true unknown animal or could it have been an escaped non-indigenous otariid?

Well to confuse the issue, Filey did already have its own resident monster seal and his name was Bonzo.

Bonzo had been discovered on a local beach in the mid-1920s, as a pup by some fishermen, the Jenkinson’s, (also possibly the same fisherman who reported seeing a huge seal, initially mistaken for a monster on some rocks and reported in the press in 1934; see Part 1). 

The men took Bonzo to some baiting sheds where they cared for him eventually building a concrete pool. As he grew he became tame and developed a repertoire of party tricks, becoming a popular local attraction. By 1934 he was described as approaching the size of The Loch Ness Monster. In fact he was given the title of largest grey seal on record.

Crowds of visitors and fisherman gathered on Filey Promenade today to witness the moving of Bonzo, the famous seal to its new home. Bonzo has had an adventurous life of six years. When Frank Jenkinson an unemployed fisherman found it on Filey Brigg it weighed only a stone and measured a yard. Today Bonzo weighs 20 stones and is nearly eight feet long. Mr Jenkinson has trained the seal to do his bidding. It will now jump out of the water at the shout of Bonzo and will beg for fish. Thousands of children including the Princess Royals two sons have been entertained by its quaint antics. In January last, Mr Jenkinson who was unable to pay the rent for the building in which he kept Bonzo was ordered out. Many offers came along for Bonzo from England, Scotland and Wales but Mr Jenkinson decided to stick to the seal and eventually he was able to build a new home for Bonzo. At today’s moving in Mr Jenkinson put a huge cage near Bonzos tank and the seal jumped in. Fishermen then had a difficult task lifting bonzo. After many rests they arrived at the new building where they tipped the cage and Bonzo dropped into a tank three times the size of the old one. Almost immediately afterwards Bonzo jumped on to it new performing platform and appeared quite at home.

Yorkshire Evening Post, April 14^th 1934.

Bonzo the captive Yorkshire seal, well known to hundreds of East Coast visitors has already had a good deal of publicity; and now he has acquired a little more. His distinctions are set forth in the learned pages of the Naturalist, official organ of the Yorkshire Naturalists Union and that is a thing which many a Yorkshire scholar has tried in vain to achieve. Apparently a leading member of the union a Mr W.J.Clarke FZS, the Scarborough Naturalist, this year visited a seaside show to see Bonzo-the biggest seal. Possibly he did so with an indigent manner of the expert towards the simple enthusiasms of the layman. However he was impressed he found himself confronted by the second Yorkshire specimen of the Great Grey or Atlantic seal ever known. The only other one to occur in Yorkshire was killed at Saltwick Bay, near Whitby in 1913. Bonzo moreover holds the record for size being six inches longer than the seven feet of his rival. He was caught as a pup at Filey Brigg in 1927 and was then three feet long. But the naturalists now want to know what business he had to be swimming around Filey Brigg at all. 

The Yorkshire Post, October 12^th 1935

Bonzo, Leeds Mercury - Monday 08 January 1934

In addition Bonzo was also known to take time out as detailed in a rather tongue in cheek article published in The Yorkshire Evening Post June 6^th, 1936 entitled Bonzo`s Cruise.

I have word on Bonzo, the seal that for some time now has made its headquarters in Scarborough Harbour. At the moment he is absent. It is believed he is on a cruise like so many of the best people nowadays. It may be that he objects to Spring-cleaning; for the dredger Rockchime is scouring the harbour and has brought up such a swirl of mud that Bonzo could not see his way to stay and could hardly see the way to go either. Another explanation of Bonzo`s departure is that his cruise is for recouperation after his recent four days in hospital. Kind hearted fishermen found Bonzo on the slipway one day, evidently very out of sorts. So he was taken ashore in a bag and treated for what is thought to be the effects of motor oil from motor craft. At length he was discharged-cured-on a handcart and was soon listening to the greetings of his old friends the Harbour side fishermen. Bonzo by the way is fond of music. It is suspected that he listens to the Spa Orchestra from the South Bay, without paying admission to the grounds. From this it is thought he comes from Scottish waters.

And a rather cryptic article appeared in the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - Saturday 15 August 1936 referring to both Bonzo and the Loch Ness Monster.

Have sea-serpents a long sense of direction? That’s what I should like know first, because on the Yorkshire Coast one is passing to and fro between Spurn and Flamborough. I wondered whether it was spawning-time at Spurn, or what not. Perhaps It's after Bonzo at Filey. You see we have a Sea-Serpent In the fish song “Merrie England " at the open air theatre Scarborough, and my colleague and are getting the wind up a bit over this rumour. You see we are the two that perform it and would like your valued opinion certainly I certainly am het Up. If the sea serpent is a male or a buck or bull—whichever you would choose then we feel safe: but If it is a hen Sea- Serpent then spawning time Spurn is the reason. I take the heed part, after having broken down under Wilkins 13et. 81b. so a more robust man is at the back for good. I object, they only give 13st. 61b. top weight at the Grand National for horses, . I have a hunch, by the way. Do you think this sea-serpent is the Loch Ness monster looking for the Loch Ness Spinster? Perhaps it might be. Does a sea-serpent lay eggs?

So how does this confuse the otherwise apparently straight forward account by Harbert?

Well firstly, despite Bonzo being such a local celebrity and surely well known amongst the fishing and coastal community, there is no mention of him in any article I have come across, or any comparison made between his celebrity, size, and the apparent monster seen by Harbert, despite being resident to the area. This strikes me as a bit unusual; the local press would surely have made some sort of comparison given the climate of the time. Secondly the fishermen who discovered Bonzo appear to be directly involved in sighting the largest seal they have ever seen in February 1934, but again no mention is made of him. Thirdly, Harbert refers to the head of the animal he saw in a one account as resembling a porpoise, perhaps a sly reference to the sighting of a sea serpent  at the beginning of the year off the Filey coast which turned out to be a school of porpoises swimming.

Did Harbert encounter Bonzo and subsequently weave him into some form of local monster story to attract publicity and encourage tourism, or given the fact that an unusual animal, possibly an eared seal, had been seen in the vicinity prior to his account, did he in fact encounter an errant sea lion?

Adapted from The Seal Serpent

robcornes1@btinternet.com

Amazon

Facebook