In August 1937, workers at the Naden Harbor whaling station in Haida Gwaii were cutting up a harpooned sperm whale when they found something in its gut that nobody recognized. Ten feet long, with a horse-like head, a long neck, small front flippers, and a fan-shaped tail — not a known fish, not a shark, not anything in the standard field guide. They photographed it on the dock before it deteriorated. Francis Kermode, director of the BC Provincial Museum, looked at a tissue sample and guessed it was a "fetal baleen whale," though he hedged. The carcass then disappeared.
The photos remain the most concrete physical evidence for Cadborosaurus willsi — nicknamed Caddy — the sea serpent that Pacific Coast fishermen, First Nations communities, and the occasional navy officer have been reporting since the early 1800s. The Manhousat people call it hiyitl'iik. The Sechelt know it as t'chain-ko. Journalist Archie Wills coined the term "Caddy" in 1933, naming it after Cadboro Bay near Victoria, BC, where sightings cluster.
300-plus reported sightings over two centuries describe the same basic shape: a serpentine body with vertical humps or coils, a horse-like head on a long neck, and either hind flippers or a fan-like tail. Skeptics point to giant oarfish, which can reach 56 feet and undulate like a serpent, or to decomposing basking sharks, which shed their jaws and skin in ways that look alarming. UBC's Dr. Paul LeBlond and the Canadian Museum of Nature zoologist Dr. Edward Bousfield spent years arguing for the existence of a real, undescribed animal. Zoologist Darren Naish spent years arguing back.
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