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  • Could one of our ships be next?

    Giant squid 'attacks French boat'

    French sailors taking part in the round-the-world Jules Verne Trophy say they have come across one of the most elusive monsters of the sea - the giant squid.

    Veteran yachtsman Olivier De Kersauson - who sailed from Brittany on Saturday - said that several hours into his voyage he found that a giant squid had clamped onto the hull of his boat.

    The creature - scientifically known as Architeutis dux - is the largest of all invertebrates. Scientists believe it can be as long as 18 metres (60 feet).

    Giant squids have been found washed ashore or caught in the nets of trawlers, but scientists have never seen one alive.


    Stuff of legend

    Olivier de Kersauson said the sighting occurred off the Portuguese island of Madeira.

    "I saw a tentacle through a porthole," Olivier de Kersauson said from his boat. "It was thicker than my leg and it was really pulling the boat hard."

    Mr de Kersauson says two of the tentacles were blocking the rudder.

    Giant squids often feature in maritime legends and novels - including Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

    But unlike Jules Verne's fictional Captain Nemo, Mr de Kersauson did not have to fight with the monster and cut off its tentacles.

    The French sailor says the squid released its grip when he stopped the boat.

    "We didn't have anything to scare off this beast, so I don't know what we would have done if it hadn't let go," Mr de Kersauson said.

    "We weren't going to attack it with our penknives."

    Rare sighting

    Mr de Kersauson says the squid must have been seven or eight metres (22 to 26 feet) long.

    "I've never seen anything like it in 40 years of sailing," he says.

    Giant squids are carnivorous mollusks who live deep under the sea.

    Only about 250 sightings - mostly of dead animals - have ever been recorded.

    A giant squid measuring about 15 metres (50 feet) was found washed up on an Australian beach in July.

    A smaller one was caught by a trawler's net off the coast of Scotland a year ago.

    From the BBC
    BBC, News, BBC News, news online, world, uk, international, foreign, british, online, service

  • #2
    anyone know how to make Calimari?? We's eating well tonight boys!!!
    Friends Come and Go, but Enemies accumulate!!

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    • #3
      This is one of the reasons I chose Army instead of Navy,...
      Sea monsters have always been the scourge of the navy,.... oh and also enemy vessels

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      • #4
        Tis true...they be the curse of the mariner,them seamonsters be! ARR!!
        Squids as big as whales..and whales as big as squids I tell ye..Arr!
        And Sea serpents too!
        And mermaids too..many a night we had to block our ears to the mermaids call..."cmereiwancha!! Ai langer? Cmereiwannashowusomethin"

        Many a good sailor was led astray by their wiley ways...

        And that edge of the world can be a pain also!!


        Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

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        • #5
          Well I'll admit that you mariners have it tough, what with picking the weavils out of biscuits and drinking your own urine.
          But the rest of the services don't have it too easy either.

          The Army has werewolves on the moors and body snatchers to contend with, while amoungst the Air Corp there is always that unspoken fear that they will crash-land on a land ruled by apes who ride around on horses, speak english and hunt humans for fun and slaves!! One might call it the "Land of the Apes"!!
          The rest of us know it as "Tallaght"!!!

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