2l8 



of a proper Coelacanth expedition of my own for 1953 was finally 

 abandoned, I felt like a wild bird in a cage, not broken but badly 

 battered. 



My mind always framed that story the Mozambique native had 

 told about the fish he got at Bazaruto. There was no valid reason 

 why it should not have been a Coelacanth. While I was prevented 

 from going to the Comores at that time, the Portuguese are my 

 very good friends and I could certainly go to Bazaruto. I had 

 already been there, but many years before, and had indeed never 

 worked over the area as thoroughly as its richness deserved. It 

 would repay closer investigation. So I sought and received from 

 the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 

 permission to use some of the Coelacanth expedition funds for a 

 small venture to the Bazaruto area. The Portuguese authorities, 

 as always co-operative and prompt, at short notice arranged the 

 requested facilities for work in September and October 1953. 



Before we left for Mozambique I received a letter, dated the 

 3rd August 1953, from G. F. Cartwright of Sahsbury. He wrote 

 to say that he had been goggle-fishing at Malindi in October and 

 November 1952, and that he had seen us at work there at the close 

 of our stay. Later when out over deep water on a reef one day, 

 equipped and armed with spear-gun, he suddenly saw not far 

 below him a large fish whose appearance gave him a shock. It had 

 a huge mouth and a 'baleful and ancient appearance'. To quote 

 further: 



It was a large fish, heavily built, and from 100 to 150 pounds in 

 weight. It was totally unlike any fish I had seen or ever saw afterwards. 

 It looked wholly evil and a thousand years old. It had a large eye 

 and the most outstanding feature was the armour-plate eff^ect of its 

 heavy scales, scales so heavy that it was set quite apart from other 

 fish I saw. 



Although its appearance was rather terrifying, he decided to 

 try a shot, but the harpoon just glanced off the scales and the 

 creature disappeared. 



On the return to shore, Cartwright told of this fish and ques- 

 tioned other anglers and spear-gunners. The nearest they got was 

 to suggest a large Rock Cod, but Cartwright had had wide experi- 

 ence of diverse Rock Cods and was quite positive it was not. The 



