Skell: Skipper of De Bounty, a Tale of Manx Wildlife

June 2007 I met Skell. He is skipper of De Bounty, a trawler. He has been recording his wildlife sightings for many years and was kind enough to copy some of them down for me. Here they are. 1997:
8th April 2 dolphin 8.30am SW of Chickens
12th April Harbour porpoises Port St Mary Bay
21st April Large single dolphin South Port St Mary
May 27th Large seal 9 miles south Port St Mary
May 27th Large seal 9 miles south of Port St Mary
May 30th 4 or 5 porpoises 6 miles SW Chickens
June 17th Dolphin jumping out of water Castletown Bay (evening)
July 6th Harbour porpoises 4-6 8 or 9 miles south of Port St Mary
July 8th Harbour porpoises as above.

1998
July 28th Large basking shark in Port St Mary Bay
August 19th Large basking shark off Port St Mary Pier
September 29th Leatherback turtle 18 miles south of Port St Mary

1999
Jan 9th 4 porpoises 4 miles west of Chickens
March 25th 4 or 5 harbour porpoises SW of Chickens
April 24th 2 basking sharks off Port St Mary
May 27th 1 harbour porpoise off Chicken Rock
June 29th 1 large basking shark Langness
July 25th Red tide bloom (algae) 10 miles off Douglas
August 2nd 1 basking shark, 2 harbour porpoises

2000
May 13th Unknown whale
May 14th 6 Rissos dolphins
May 15th 1 harbour porpoise off Port St Mary pier
June 16th 1 basking shark Langness

2001
May 11th Dolphin Whort Bank, Port St Mary
May 23rd 1 big basking shark, 1 porpoise, 2 Minke whales
July 26th 13 miles south Port St Mary porpoises
July 31st Red tide off Port St Mary
August 1st Some red tide

2002
March. Porpoises 10 miles SW Port St Mary.
June 20th. Dolphin 10 miles south of Port St mary,
August 1st, 2nd, 3 rd, 4th and 5th Harbour Porpoises more than 10 12 miles south of Port St Mary.
September 4th. 8 to 10 killer whales 11 miles SW of Port St Mary 08.00 -08.30.
November 9th Big whale alongside when towing. Fin whale possibly 40-50′ 10.30 5 miles west of the Calf.

2003
Feb 17th Killer Whale Whort Bank am
March 17th Risso Dolphin jumping at Chickens
May 27th 1 Minke Whale and harbour porpoises
May 28th, 1 whale (pilot) round boat when emptying catch
May 29th 1 pilot whale round boat (all 8 miles south of Port St Mary)
June 14th 10 miles south of Douglas 1 pilot whale
June 16th Langness Herring hog whale
June 17th Port St Mary 12 miles south, 1 pilot whale + 1 seal
July 2nd Seal alongside 14 miles south of Port St Mary
July 12th Large gamefish jumps twice out of water 14 miles SW Port St Mary. Possibly Marlin or Tuna definitly not a mammal). 600-800lb. + seal /millions of jellyfish + 2 basking sharks 1.5 miles off Port St Mary side of the Calf Dec 6th 4 0r 5 dolphins

2004
February 13th, i dolphin 5 miles off the Chickens.
April 2nd 5 or 6 dolphins.
April 11th Harbour porpoises.
April 26th Harbour porpoises.
May 5th Seal 6 miles SW of Calf. June 15th Basking Shark 2 miles off Peel.
July 27th 2 basking sharks in Port St Mary Bay.
July 28th Harbour porpoises Port St Mary Bay, 1 basking shark 9 miles south of Port St Mary.
August 10th Porpoises.
August. Dead whale washed up behind Port St Mary fish factory.

2005
March 7th 6-7 miles off Douglas. Unknown sea creature seen on a calm day. Skells drawing of it looks like a 2 humped snake. He says that you could see air ebeneath the ‘loops’ of the creature. VERY interesting, no wonder there are stories of sea monsters when things like this are spotted. I suggested to Skell that he looked upan ‘Oarfish’ on Google to see if it looked like that.
May 30th Whale alongside 8 milesa south of Port St Mary.
June 6th Minke whale 14 miles off Port St Mary. + pod of 4-6 pilot whales 4 miles off Port St Mary at teatime.
June 19th 1 porpoise Port St Mary.
July 1st 2 harbour porpoises 6 miles off Port St Mary. 2006
May 11th Pod of small harbour porpoises Port St Mary Bay.
May 12th 6 harbour porpoises 5 miles west of the Calf.
June 4 harbour porpoises and 1 pilot whale 10 miles SE Port St Mary.
June 15th 1 pilot whale, 2 harbour porpoises and 1 seal 10 miles SE of Port St Mary.
June 17th Risso Dolphin 5 miles off Port St Mary.
June 26th Big basking shark off St Mary.
August 23rd and 24th Seal 9 miles off Port St Mary.