Remembering a Dublin sea monster

From the earliest days, Irish folklore is full of stories of mysterious creatures that live in our rivers, lakes and seas.

While these may have been clever tales designed to keep children away from the water while unintended, they were so widely believed that the Catholic Church incorporated many mythical water monsters into the stories of the Irish Saints. Searches and modern technology have failed to find any truth behind these ancient tales and a monster, dead or alive has never been captured.

One incident however, that may shine some light on the truth behind they myth of Irish water monsters took place almost 100 hundred years ago in the seaside town of Dalkey.
In August 1915, reports of the capture of a

‘giant sea serpent like creature’ generated great excitement in Dublin.

The accounts centred on the story of Willie Flanagan, Ned Carroll, Mick Flanagan and Pat McBride who had hooked a giant,

‘monster like’ fish deep in Dalkey Sound.
Reports from the time confirm that the four friends were experienced fishermen, who were known locally for the success of their catch.

On the day in question the friends had set out for one of their regular fishing trips and had caught a variety of fish including Rock Bream, Mackerel, Whiting and Gurnet. One had even managed to hook a seagull that was swimming nearby.

That evening, just as they had agreed to turn for home, Willie Flanagan felt an almighty bite on his line and was almost pulled out of the boat.
Flanagan held his ground and called his friends to help reel in his catch. After a short fight a huge serpent like head broke the surface of the water.

During a short stand off the

‘monster’ and the shocked fishermen sized each other up.
A titanic tug of war, the proverbial battle for life and death, had begun.
At first it looked as if the giant fish would win the fight. As the submerged

‘monster’ dragged the small boat around the sound, an excited crowd began to gather on a nearby beach.
As the fishermen fought hard disaster struck, one of their oars fell overboard and floated away on the tide.
Determined to master the beast, Ned Carroll seized its head in a giant thongs and managed to drag the upper half of the aquatic giant out of the water and into the boat.

In an impressive display of seamanship, Mick Flanagan then used the same thongs as an oar and succeeded in rowing the crew and its catch home to safety.
Landing in front of a growing crowd on the beach, the captured sea monster was revealed by the crew to be a giant Conger Eel.

The ‘monster’ measured an enormous 19 feet, two and a half inches.
At that time, Conger Eel was a favourite delicacy in Dalkey, so it his highly likely this monster catch provided a hearty meal for the four friends and their families.

Over the following days several newspapers covered reports of this impressive catch.
The reports detailed the heroic story of the fishermen who had caught a Dublin sea monster and described how the giant conger could easily be mistaken for the fabled

‘sea serpents’ of old.