Yowiehunters Forum

Rusty wrote:
I just wanted to share something with everyone .
A friends father inlaw was dying of cancer . I went to see him when he was crook and asked him about his life etc .
He was "a merchant seaman" in his younger days .
He told me a story about a shark that came up to the side of the "ship" when he was at sea and said it was nearly half the length of the ship . I can't remember the exact details and this was quite a while ago but I got the impression this happened way out off western Australia , maybe 50 years ago .
Thought you'd like to know ............

Hi Rusty. Megalodon has always interested me. I have found a great hub that deals with this subject. http://hubpages.com/education/Is-the-Me ... till-Alive

There have been a number of sightings of monster sharks, and just about all are documented here. (Except your friends father in law's sighting... hint, hint!)

I have spoken with a professional fisherman off Port Fairy in Victoria who was a friend of my fathers. We often went there in the 80's to buy fresh crayfish directly from the boats. He told me about numerous encounters with a giant shark they called 'Big Ben'. According to him, it was at least 32 feet long. They knew this as when it swam past, it was longer than their 30 foot fishing boat. Huge white shark or juvenile Meg... who knows? He also told me it would not take baits like other Great Whites and that they thought of shooting it with the 303's they always carried on board, but " those magnificent jaws would just sink to the bottom".

One of my favourite reports is this Port Stephens encounter.

A few reports of alleged encounters with large, unidentified sharks have been proposed as evidence for C. megalodon survival. One of the most widely cited is an extraordinary tale recounted by Australian naturalist David Stead (1963: 45-46):

In the year 1918 I recorded the sensation that had been caused among the "outside" crayfish men at Port Stephens, when, for several days, they refused to go to sea to their regular fishing grounds in the vicinity of Broughton Island. The men had been at work on the fishing grounds---which lie in deep water---when an immense shark of almost unbelievable proportions put in an appearance, lifting pot after pot containing many crayfishes, and taking, as the men said, "pots, mooring lines and all". These crayfish pots, it should be mentioned, were about 3 feet 6 inches [1.06 m] in diameter and frequently contained from two to three dozen good-sized crayfish each weighing several pounds. The men were all unanimous that this shark was something the like of which they had never dreamed of. In company with the local Fisheries Inspector I questioned many of the men very closely and they all agreed as to the gigantic stature of the beast. But the lengths they gave were, on the whole, absurd. I mention them, however, as a indication of the state of mind which this unusual giant had thrown them into. And bear in mind that these were men who were used to the sea and all sorts of weather, and all sorts of sharks as well. One of the crew said the shark was "three hundred feet [90 m] long at least"! Others said it was as long as the wharf on which we stood---about 115 feet [35 m]! They affirmed that the water "boiled" over a large space when the fish swam past. They were all familiar with whales, which they had often seen passing at sea, but this was a vast shark. They had seen its terrible head which was "at least as long as the roof on the wharf shed at Nelson's Bay." Impossible, of course! But these were prosaic and rather stolid men, not given to 'fish stories' nor even to talking about their catches. Further, they knew that the person they were talking to (myself) had heard all the fish stories years before! One of the things that impressed me was that they all agreed as to the ghostly whitish colour of the vast fish. The local Fisheries Inspector of the time, Mr Paton, agreed with me that it must have been something really gigantic to put these experienced men into such a state of fear and panic.

Megalodon is unfortunately one of those species that I think we can call extinct. How cool it would be to have them living out in the ocean in the deep whatever., it just seems far fetched that such a massive species of shark could still exist. Most sharks live in the top 500m of water closest to sunlight and would be feeding on whales etc to sustain their diet.
I think there would be more evidence of teeth shedding, wounded whales and even sightings to support this animals existence. There are some huge white pointers that could easily shake a fishermans confidence and I believe there are some massive ones out there....

Who knows.....its always interesting to think about what could be....

ChrisV wrote:
Megalodon is unfortunately one of those species that I think we can call extinct.

G'day ChrisV. Wish I could be as sure! If you spend some time on the suggested Hub, you will find heaps of impressive reports of giant sharks from around the world. Can you say conclusively that all are wrong? At this stage, I'd prefer to keep an open mind.

Searcher wrote:

ChrisV wrote:
Megalodon is unfortunately one of those species that I think we can call extinct.

G'day ChrisV. Wish I could be as sure! If you spend some time on the suggested Hub, you will find heaps of impressive reports of giant sharks from around the world. Can you say conclusively that all are wrong? At this stage, I'd prefer to keep an open mind.

Your right Searcher....these kind of answers are never easy. I'd love nothing better to be proved wrong - just find it hard to imagine these beasts still swimming around out there - and if they were, it would makes Jaws look like a tadpole!

A huge 7 metre Great White has been reported off Adelaide in South Australia. While it is a real monster at around 23 feet long, it is shorter than the fictional Jaws that Peter Benchley decided would be 25 feet long.

This report comes from Channel 9 news.

A seven-metre great white shark has been spotted off Adelaide's coast by a helicopter patrol.

The shark was seen 100 metres offshore at the Marino Rocks on Sunday afternoon, a Shark Alerts South Australia Facebook post says. Nearby Nippers events were cancelled and swimmers evacuated from the water.

"It's the biggest I've ever seen as a crew member in the Westpac chopper. We put it down as 7m the photo really doesn't do it justice," an unnamed crew member wrote.

The pictures caused a stir on social media, with some swearing never to step foot in the ocean again, and others arguing the great white was unlikely to be that large and labelling the sighting a "fisherman's tale".

Shark Alerts South Australia said the crew used their six-metre jet boat to estimate the great white's size.


Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/0 ... blvmDJG.99

I have noticed the HubPages Megalodon link I posted did not copy properly when I submitted the first post in this thread. The last part of the address wasn't highlighted. Strange...?

So I'll try again: http://hubpages.com/education/Is-the-Me ... till-Alive

If this still doesn't work, just Google "hubpages + megalodon" and that will get you there.

Apart from Yowies, If giant sharks float your boat, then it's well worth a look.

At least Yowie reports seem to roll in with some regularity and good UFO reports around the globe easily top 100 per week. However, sightings of giant sharks in the Megalodon mould are few and far between. An Australian encounter that suggests Meg has survived in the ocean depths through the ages is this one:

Going way back to the 1960's, along the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef, the captain of a 55 foot fishing boat reported that a white shark at least as long if not longer than his vessel passed slowly by while they were at anchor for repairs. The captain made a report but the crew would not discuss the sighting for fear of public ridicule. The captain was an experienced sailor who would certainly have recognised a whale, but he was certain this was indeed a giant shark.

Not Meg, but the Greenland Shark... a 5 metre plus beast that Jeremy Wade of 'River Monsters' fame once tried to convince everyone this giant fish was in fact responsible for all Loch Ness sightings!

How absurd is that?

However, this monster shark really is something special... scientists say it can live for 400 years! Read about it here: http://www.9news.com.au/world/2016/08/1 ... rchers-say

ChrisV wrote:
Your right Searcher....these kind of answers are never easy. I'd love nothing better to be proved wrong - just find it hard to imagine these beasts still swimming around out there - and if they were, it would makes Jaws look like a tadpole!

I am 50/50 with this one. The number of and quality of the reports are certainly convincing.

However, many city folk cannot see the possibility of a giant hairy hominid 'out there' either, using the same argument. This is because they do not realise how massive the 'empty' spaces are out there in the bush... and that's the bush, which pales in insignificance when compared to the vast oceans, of which very, very few humans experience any more than the thin surface of.... let alone the impenetrable depths. (impenetrable unless you're in a bathysphere or a sperm whale, etc)

Wolf wrote:

I am 50/50 with this one. The number of and quality of the reports are certainly convincing.
However, many city folk cannot see the possibility of a giant hairy hominid 'out there' either, using the same argument. This is because they do not realise how massive the 'empty' spaces are out there in the bush... and that's the bush, which pales in insignificance when compared to the vast oceans, of which very, very few humans experience any more than the thin surface of.... let alone the impenetrable depths. (impenetrable unless you're in a bathysphere or a sperm whale, etc).

Wolf makes a lot of sense with his post. Sums up the situation nicely. Our brains struggle to put into perspective how incredibly huge and deep the oceans of this blue planet are.

It is said over 70% of the Earth is covered by the briny sea with an average depth of around 3.5 kilometres. And only a mere fraction, around 5%, has ever been explored.

Who knows how many myriads of undiscovered species lurk beneath the waves in those murky ocean depths!

Yes the "Kracken" is a good example of this. There was that doco or something i saw where they tagged that massive shark and it dissapeared from radar when dropped down in those underseas cliffs. They said something must have eaten it!

Yowie bait wrote:Yes the "Kracken" is a good example of this. There was that doco or something i saw where they tagged that massive shark and it dissapeared from radar when dropped down in those underseas cliffs. They said something must have eaten it!

G'day YB.

Think you mean this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_QyGANCUJI

Certainly makes you wonder what could eat a 9' Great White and then dive down so deep!

Searcher wrote:

Yowie bait wrote:Yes the "Kracken" is a good example of this. There was that doco or something i saw where they tagged that massive shark and it dissapeared from radar when dropped down in those underseas cliffs. They said something must have eaten it!

G'day YB.

Think you mean this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_QyGANCUJI

Certainly makes you wonder what could eat a 9' Great White and then dive down so deep!

Hillary Clinton on holiday?

Reminds me of this little picture that is currently doing the rounds...

Searcher wrote:

Yowie bait wrote:Yes the "Kracken" is a good example of this. There was that doco or something i saw where they tagged that massive shark and it dissapeared from radar when dropped down in those underseas cliffs. They said something must have eaten it!

G'day YB.

Think you mean this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_QyGANCUJI

Certainly makes you wonder what could eat a 9' Great White and then dive down so deep!

Yes thats the one Searcher. There must be something huge down there! Could be a whole different world of giant aquatic animals that far deep and we would never know.

YB wrote:

Yes thats the one Searcher. There must be something huge down there! Could be a whole different world of giant aquatic animals that far deep and we would never know.

There have been numerous reports by fishermen of huge Plesiosaur type animals in the Southern Ocean. They are said to be 25-30 metres long and have been described elsewhere in Lake and Sea Creatures.
A monster that size would have no trouble taking down a mere 3 metre Great White. Think it's important to keep an open mind when considering all the possible answers to this marine research puzzle.

I wouldnt be suprised Searcher. The Japanese claim to have netted some similar things. That would explain a lot,including your mate 'nessie'!

Yowie bait wrote:I wouldnt be suprised Searcher. The Japanese claim to have netted some similar things. That would explain a lot,including your mate 'nessie'!

G'day YB. I think you are referring to the rotting 33 foot long carcass that was pulled into a Japanese fishing trawler off New Zealand in 1977. I remember it well!
However, it was more likely a decomposed Basking Shark than a plesiosaur. However, I've always thought the large front fins look too big for a shark and more like the reports of plesiosaur type creatures off southern Australia.
This article describes the incident very well. https://answersingenesis.org/creationis ... lesiosaur/

Hi Searcher. Thanks for the link. I have seen that blubber monster in a few youtube video. The things i was talking about were intact and were either washed up on the beach in japan after storm or netted.

Theyre very old photos and were maybe 10 ft in length and looked like the classic nessie shape.I mustve seen them in one of the books i used to read as a kid or possibly a book on loch ness? I think i still have those books so will post the pics if i find em. Of course probably all b.s. but who knows.

Whale blubber seems to come in all shapes and forms and often is the source of alleged washed up sea monsters!

I am finding myself contradicting myself here talking about giant sharks!
On this hand I am a firm believer that Yowies are existent but on the other hand I struggle to believe Megalodon still survives!!
Apologies if its conflicting....but heres my reasons.

Megalodon being part of the shark family would presumably follow similar requirements to those of its smaller cousins - habitat, diet , sustainable breeding populations etc. These massive sharks would be attracted to large pods of whales one would think and shadow large schools of tuna or other large offshore species. With the amount of fishing in the seas and boating traffic - something must of shown up by now. Even the reports would be double to whats actually available.
The other conflicting aspect is that giant white pointers could easily fit the description of Megaldon.
I understand that the oceans are large and deep - so I ack that fact.

But they did rediscover giant squids off the coast of Mexico. But these massive things live in the dark and very deep depths....something Megaldon couldnt do ( I wouldnt really know - just guessing )

I guess the point I am making is not to be a non-believer but more so showing that there are some necessary factors to support their survival. I could be 100% wrong....just another opinion I;m adding to get some debate going.

On the other hand - being a Yowie forum. There is so much supportive evidence not just here but around the world to justify the very real existence of our hairy friends. When you way up the cases - I will put my $$ on Yowies before Megaldon gets my vote....

Given the vastness of the ocean, I reckon anything of any size could potentially be down there. There'd be loads of animals we don't even have a clue about.