It makes
you wonder what's in the beer.
The lunchtime customers at the small waterfront pub had never
seen anything like it.
They were enjoying a quiet drink when suddenly they saw a
mysterious serpent-like creature in the water outside.
It was dark and snake-like and roughly the length of four to five
cars.
If it was Nessie she was a long way from home, as the mysterious
creature of the deep was spotted in the Milford Haven waterway, just
yards away from the busy Irish ferry terminal.
Now the sighting has become the talk of Pembroke Dock and the
pub's landlord is offering a £150 reward to anyone who can catch the
monster alive.
David Crewe of the historic Ship-wright pub, said, "There was
definitely something out there.
"It could be anything. I just want to find out what it is."
The mysterious creature was spotted first by barmaid Lesley John
in the deep channel of the waterway, close to where Irish ferry
boats turn around before heading for Pembroke Dock ferry terminal.
"I was pulling a pint for one of the lads and I was watching the
ferry, you know how it leaves a white trail as it goes?"
"Then I saw what looked like a big black fin. I carried on
pulling the pint and it was still there. I said to the lads `What
the hell is that?' "
The customers went outside to investigate and also saw something
strange.
"From a distance it appeared to have a snake-like head," said
Peter Thomas. "And you could see a commotion in the water, a lot of
splashing, about 10 metres away.
"It was a rather odd thing. I do a lot of boating on the waterway
and I have never seen anything like that. It was something really
strange. But you can only say what you saw."
By the time Mr Crewe himself was alerted, it had almost
disappeared. "All I saw was a tail disappearing into the water," he
said.
Afterwards the pub rang the local radio station, Radio
Pembrokeshire, which aired news of the sighting to the county.
It was also picked up by the local paper the Western Telegraph,
which splashed it over half-a-page complete with picture.
Pembroke Dock's long time county councillor Viv Hay said it was
now the talk of the town.
"I haven't seen the Pembroke Dock Loch Ness monster at all but a
lot of people are talking about it," he said. "I just wonder what
they serve there.
"I suppose it was just a fleeting visit, but if it stopped here
long enough it could become a tourist attraction."
Radio Pembrokeshire managing director Keri Jones said the station
had been inundated with phone calls from listeners offering theories
about what had been seen and even suggesting names for the monster.
And although there have been no other reported sightings, he
said, "They really believe what they thought they saw."
There have been many sightings of so called sea monsters around
the coast of Britain, as well as the renowned monster of Loch Ness.
One of the most dramatic is regularly seen off the coast of
Cornwall, which along with Devon is a particularly fertile area for
sea monsters.
The legendary Morgawr, as it is now known, was first sighted in
1975 and has been described as a humped creature with stubby horns
and bristles.
In the same year a sea monster about 10ft long was seen on
Bar-mouth Beach in North Wales, while a 30ft to 40ft monster has
also been spotted at Newquay.
There have also been alleged sightings of sea beasts off North
Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts.
David Saunders, a naturalist for more than 40 years and former
director of the Dyfed Wildlife Trust, said he had never heard of
such a sighting around the Pembrokeshire coast before.
"The nearest thing to this would be a whale or dolphin, but it
does not appear to be any of these," he said.
"It could have been two things separated by 10 metres."
He said that over the years there had been reports of similar
creatures throughout the world, and often by reputed sources such as
Royal Navy ships, but such sightings were usually made out at sea.
But he said that despite all the sightings, no-one had ever come
up with any real proof that these mysterious creatures actually
existed.
