SOMERTON BEACH
.... SCENE OF THE DISCOVERY OF
SOMERTON MAN...
....X marks the spot, well, the approximate spot where the body of the Somerton Man was discovered, his head and shoulders leaning against the low sea wall, at around 6 am on Tuesday, 1st December 1948. To the right in this image and just above the level of the beach, there is a bench seat, this was the seat upon which Olive Neil and Gordon Strapps sat the previous evening and observed a man in this position. Strapps gave a description of the man but Olive was less forthcoming in that regard, both had noticed a man above and to the right of the entrance to the steps down to the beach who appeared to be watching the man lying near the sea wall and a description of sorts was given. Bear in mind that at the time Olive and Gordon were sat there, it was dusk and the sun was setting or had just set.
But to the point of this post...
A number of comments were made in the statements of witnesses at the inquest that eventually followed the discovery of the man's body. these are they and I ask your forgiveness if I have wrongly attributed or misread them, they're not in any particular order apart from the last one:
1. 'Strappers with horses were close to/around the man', John Lyons
2. 'It was a busy part of the beach', again, John Lyons
3. 'The body was cold and damp when found', PC Moss
4. 'The body had not been in the water', Cleland
5. 'The sand around the body had not been disturbed', PC Moss
Interesting comments when brought together don't you think? I have always been puzzled by, given the fact that the man was a noted smoker, the absence of discarded cigarette butts or spent matches around the man. You will recall that the assumption has always been that it was this same man seen by Strapps and Neil who was found the following morning. And, until quite recently, I wondered about the 'undisturbed sand' around the body when the trappers and horses were seen there. For reasons I will explain in part 2 of this post, I have rethought that particular issue.
The biggest question I have will also be included in the post that follows.
Were there issues that had been overlooked? Was there evidence that could have been given that would add to our knowledge of the scene and would it be important?
In part 2 of this post, I will introduce some hitherto unknown information that, I think, will clarify some matters of importance.
I must add that, in all fairness, I am not the only one to raise questions about the scene, John Sanders being notable for his thoughts on the matter.