What Was It?

Waikato Argus, Volume XXIV, Issue 3750, 6 April 1908, Page 3

What Was It?

The Marine Department has been furnished with an extraordinary report from one of the lighthouse keepers at Farewell Spit, who is described as a lolid reliable man, with a good record, and a teetotaller. This it is considered necessary to state on account of the puzzling story the man tells. The report reads as follows: “On Monday night, March 9, T was, on duty in the lighthouse from 8 p.m. till midnight. I wound up the revolving machinery at 10 p..m., and then stepped out on the balcony floor. A red flare of light attracted my attention, about twenty miles north-north-west from where I stood, and about ten miles north east of the Cape headlands. The Cape itself showed up very plainly, and around the vicinity seemed just like a sundown in an overcast sky. The light, or fire, seemed blood red, and appeared from the shape very like a large vessel on fire; although lam quite positive it was not a vessel, as the length of the fire appeared to be about 200 or 300 feet high, though the shape or obstacle resembled a ship broadside on to me. On the water’s edge appeared one long red mass of solid fire, and above this was one long black mass, and above this again onelong red mass running, say from bow to stern. In' the midlde of the top of the mass of fire appeared a dome of solid fire, about 200 or 300 feet high. There was no smoke or steam visible, and the water around for about two or three miles seemed in great commotion, bubbling and sparkling, The flare of fire was not in the sky, but appeared to be in the water, and I am quite sure of this, because 1 could plainly see the sky and water line on the horizon. The whole exposition lasted sixteen minutes from the time I saw it first until the time it died out. About three or four minutes before I wound up the machine there was nothing visible. Herewith I enclose a roueh sketch of the fire as it appeared to me. Had I the least thought it was a vessel on fire, I would have reported the matter by wire the following morning. “F. M’GAHEY, Principal Keeper.”