A GIANT STINGRAY

Taranaki Daily News, 1 December 1926, Page 13

A GIANT STINGRAY

ENTRAPPED IN BATHS FRANTIC EFFORTS AT CAPTURE. DISCOVERED DEAD BY DIVER. i ---- - Sydney, Nov. 11. A great fuss has been made of one stingray in Sydney recently. Certainly it was no ordinary stingray. In the first place he was a giant, measuring Bft 6in long by oft wide. In the second place he was placed in most extraordinary circumstances —circumstances, inneed, which compelled more limelight to be thrown upon him than a dozen theatrical stars. While the Domain Baths, the city’s principal enclosed swimming pool, were being repaired recently a portion of the fence had to be taken down, and while it was in that condition the stingray nosed his way in, and curled himself up in the deepest and darkest corner until after the fence had been replaced. Some scared batheds one morning almost came in contact with the creature, and thereupon all bathing ceased, for a wound from the stingray’s barb or tail can be most painful, and a hue and cry was raised. For three weeks the hunt went on. Efforts were made to harpoon the stingray. Thrise it was struck and thrice it escaped, with the harpoon eventually buried in its flesh. Men tried to capture it on a hook. Tliy tried to enfold it in a net. Then, desperate, they brought charges of dynamite to bear. These were exploded, but though small fish Hooted to the surface dead, the giant stingray was merely seen for a flash and then disappeared. It began to be surrounded with a mythical elusiveness. There came a day when the stingray could no longer be seen. Last Monday Mr. Albert, Sydney’s foremost underwater expert, donned his helmet and rubber dress, and began to grope round the baths to see if all the fence was intact. During his submarine peregrinations, he came across the stingray, dead. What caused its death is problematical. It might have been the effect of the harpoon, which was found in its flesh, or, more probably, the charge of dynamite used might have wrought such effects that, although not immediately fatal, they eventually brought about the end. But in his few weeks of unwilling captivity, that stingray was given more publicity in the Sydney newspapers than a matinee idol. Paragraphs appeared daily describing the efforts to capture him. Special writers were sent to work their imaginations and typewriters upon him and the hunt for him. The customs, whims and weaknesses of the stingray tribe were explained at length. Photographers pictured harassed men in their search for it. And even in death, his huge bulk was portrayed in picture and written description. Truly, the most wonderful stingray in the world, all because it was silly enough to wander into a place which man had reserved for himself.