Ten Years, Post-Loch Ness
Posted by: Loren Coleman on February 11th, 2009
I went to Loch Ness ten years ago, during the summer of 1999. I miss being there.
In 1998, Dan Scott Taylor invited me to take a ride in his minisub, the one he was building in the Carolinas to go speed along with the motor of a locomotive to chase Nessie. Taylor wanted me to join him to dive down into Loch Ness. After he shared with me stories that he’d never told the media, of how in 1969, the hatch leaked and he had to take an umbrella abroad to keep dry, I thought, whoa, this could be quite an adventure. He first did it in 1969, and he said he wanted to do it again in 1999.
In 1998, I was his first pick, he said, to come on board. He even bestowed upon and named me the project’s “Mission Cryptozoologist.” But Dan had his troubles with money and local politics and such. He held a news conference in the States, and said he was going to harpoon Nessie. The Scottish authorities withdrew his permits. He never made the 1999 trip, but flirted with future plans, nevertheless. However, the brief overlapping of our lives allowed me to get to know Dan rather well.
I went on with my two sons, Malcolm and Caleb, to Loch Ness in 1999, for a two-week surface search, and to deliver the keynote at the first International Cryptozoology Symposium at Loch Ness. I had good meetings with Henry Bauer, Gary Campbell, Robert Rines, Dick Raynor, Adrian Shine, and many others there.
I wrote afterward that I felt Loch Ness is the “Epicenter of Cryptozoology,” and I still feel that way. Hey, it has two museums in one block, on the shores of a loch full of cryptids, surrounded by those hills complete with centuries of Kelpie and other traditions. The place is remarkable.
Dan stayed home, and worked on his dreams.
Unfortunately Dan Scott Taylor, Jr., 65, Loch Ness mini-sub commander, died July 23, 2005, after complications from surgery at a Savannah, Georgia, hospital. Taylor felt he had encountered a Nessie underwater in 1969, during his time with the Roy Mackal-World Book Expedition to Loch Ness. Taylor wanted to take me down into Loch Ness in that mini-sub of his in 1999; it didn’t work out. Sad to say, he was unsuccessful in making his dreams come true for any return trips, most notably planned for 1999 and 2005. I’m sorry he never made it back to the Loch.
Some of us still live the dreams of more returns.
I’m hoping to make it back to Loch Ness, but I think I’ll skip any notions of going down in a sub there.
Happy Birthday to my son, Malcolm (#6), whose day of birth is today and who is continuing to pursue his first passion, baseball. He’s 23 years old.
- Similar Phenomena:
I visited Inverness in 2001, at the height of the hoof and mouth outbreak. It was a wonderful trip, since the town was practically empty of tourists.
The trip out onto the Loch was amazing, and the highlight of my time there. While we didn’t see Nessie, but we did rolling waves and other natural effects of the steep sides that look odd to the shallow lake dwelling American.
Ah… yes. I want to return. Sorry to fall into rambling memories.
Nice reflective piece Loren. I’m sure a ride in the sub would have been quite the adventure. Also, happy birthday to your son and I wish him all the best with baseball. I’m ready for the MLB season to start!
Nice post on Nessie and Loch Ness in general, Loren.
Taylor sounded like one righteous “dude.” RIP.
Happy birthday to your boy, Loren!!! Many happy returns!!!
So what happened to the mini-sub?
Happy Birthday Malcolm and thanks for all your posts Loren and the others
March / April next year after the British Big Cat conference, I cannot promise you a ride in a sub, but Dick Raynor will certainly take us out on his boat, he has said.
Hope its not bloody raining
Happy birthday Malcom!