homepage Forums Air Combat & Civil Aviation Battle of Britain + Battle of Britain II Here's what happened (Continued)

Folks,

Do you guys remember a fellow named Pierpoint Angler? He lived by the sea not far from Studley Grange and was an avid fisherman all his life. He always used very heavy tackle and though it deprived him of the smaller fish he was certainly ready for a truly big one should one ever come swimming along. Sadly, one had not come along for all the years he fished and poor Pierpoint was the subject of much laughter, pointing, and painful derision. One stormy day, however, he was fishing off the end of Fogmore's pier on Studly Bay and caught a really big, I mean a REALLY big one. All the other fisherman were astounded when the huge thing breached, fell back into the sea near the pier and then dove, leaving them all amazed and drenched with sea water.

No one was more surprised than Pierpoint who barely had time to brace himself before the monster bottomed out and instantly took off in a generally northern direction. Off it went like a rocket, pulling the unfortunate man right off the pier and into the sea. Having waited for this vindication for so very long, there was no possible way Pierpoint Angler was ever going to let go of that rod. Drinking a lot of sea water at first he held on for dear life. Fortunately, Pierpoint was an accomplished water skier who could easily stand up without a ski under him for long distances if pulled fast enough. In this instance, he did that and was definitely being pulled fast enough. Old Pierpont is kindly remembered today. He was last seen leaving a great wake behind him just waving happily and moving at 20 knots at least, due north, toward the open sea.

Some said the "fish" who caught Pierpoint (as it was now known) was a giant Grouper, others a Sperm Whale, one witness concluded it was not a fish at all but most likely a one-man sub. No one but Pierpoint would ever know for sure. The happy, smiling but haggard fisherman was seen several more times in the days to come by passing Russian trawlers, shrimp boats, and one very astonished German submarine captain looking out his periscope.