Maunganui

Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author best known for his popular adventure novels and stories that presented an idealized image of the American frontier.

Grey indulged his interest in fishing with visits to Australia and New Zealand. He first visited New Zealand in 1926 and caught several large fish of great variety, including a mako shark, a ferocious fighter which presented a new challenge. Grey established a base at Otehei Bay Lodge on Urupukapuka Island in the Bay of Islands, which became a magnet for the rich and famous and wrote many articles in international sporting magazines highlighting the uniqueness of New Zealand fishing which has produced heavy-tackle world records for the major billfish, striped marlin, black marlin, blue marlin and broadbill. He held numerous world records during this time and invented the teaser, a hookless bait that is still used today to attract fish.

"They'd never believe me!" was the plaintive burden of a song of yesterday. Those who have seen authentic sea serpents share with anglers the anguish of being the most disbelieved of men. To establish his veracity a passenger on the steamer Maunganui on its last voyage from San Francisco to New Zealand turned a cinema camera on a marine monster which the steamer cut into with its bows. Unfortunately this passenger landed at Papeete (Tahiti), and he took the "shot" with him. On the earlier voyage from New Zealand to San Francisco the Maunganui also struck a sea monster, which Mr. Zane Grey, the novelist, himself a mighty hunter of big fish, estimated at 50ft. in length and 10ft. across the nose. Unfortunately this one got away. Nobody measured mentally the monster encountered on the return voyage. This time the carcase got away. If the film has escaped being over-exposed, under-developed, or any other of the major tragedies which happen to amateurs' films, and the passenger who took it has not got away, then he may get away with the story, for there should be some unimpeachable evidence for the incredulous.

Passengers who arrived at Wellington by the Maunganui on Monday from San Francisco were still talking about the collision the vessel had when it was a day out from Papeete with either a whale, or, as some believe, a genuine sea serpent. A tremor run through the ship when; she struck the object, and passengers became alarmed. So large was the monster and so deeply were the bows enbedded in its huge body that the vessel had to go astern to free itself. The carcase immediately sank. Dr. O 'Shea, the, ship's surgeon, believes that the monster was a great fish such as Zane Grey, had previously seen in those waters. It was 50ft. long, and measured about 10ft. across the nose. Mr Fredric March, a lilm actor, secured a moving picture of the scene.

Fredric March (August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American stage and film actor.[1] He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and in 1946 for "The Best Years of Our Lives". March is the only actor to win both the Academy Award and the Tony Award for acting twice.