Here Be Monsters: Fortune Harbour
Fortune Harbour, NL, 2022
In the summer of 1937, something unexpected surfaced in the waters off Fortune Harbour—a creature so large and unfamiliar that locals took up arms in pursuit.
For two days, men chased it through the bay with guns, harpoons, and lances. When they finally brought it in, tied to the side of the motor vessel Golda, they found themselves face to face with something they couldn't quite explain.
The creature measured 34 feet long and a girth of 25 feet. It had flippers four feet in length, a snout nearly nine feet long, and a mouth wide enough to swallow a small boat. Its tail spanned over nine feet. Oddly, it had no visible fins, just thick blubber—over nine inches of it—and signs it might be carrying young.
Captain E.B. Noble, who reported the event to The Evening Telegram, said plainly: “This monster is certainly worth seeing.”
Speculation followed quickly. Some believed it to be a bowhead whale, more commonly found in Arctic waters. Others thought it might be a Right Whale. But many who saw it firsthand weren’t so sure. It didn’t look like any whale they knew from Newfoundland’s shores.
The Chase of the Bowhead Whale by Clifford Warren Ashley, 1909. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The body was eventually taken to Nipper’s Harbour, where plans were made to process it if no sale could be arranged. The creature’s identity remains uncertain to this day.
Whether it was an out-of-place Arctic species or something rarer still, the 1937 Fortune Harbour sea monster reminds us that even those who’ve spent their lives on the water—working its tides and reading its moods—can still be met with something they can’t explain.
The truth is, the unknown is never far offshore.
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More Particulars Fortune Harbour Sea Monster, Blairmore Enterprise, Sept 3, 1937
Monster Caught at Fortune Harbour Probably a Right Whale, The Evening Telegram, August 24, 1937
Monster Fish Captured and Described, Fisherman’s Advocate, August 20, 1937
Here Be Monsters
On Newfoundland’s foggy coast, not everything strange is imagined—and not everything real can be explained.
The Here Be Monsters series dives into historical sea monster sightings reported in Newfoundland’s headlines — real accounts from people who lived and worked on the water. These stories may not all point to undiscovered creatures, but they remind us that even in well-known harbours and fishing grounds, the sea still has its secrets. And those secrets can surprise, unsettle, and leave even the most seasoned mariners with more questions than answers.
