Nessie pre 1900‘s

Nessie Pages Home.

Tim Dinsdales Film: by Richard Carter.
Richard Carter
I would like to say that I regrettably never met Tim Dinsdale and this is not an attempt to take anything away from the years of work and study, that he has put into the Loch Ness mystery. Most of the following comes from his book, ‘Loch Ness Monster.’
He set out for the loch on 16th of April 1960 with three camera’s, the first a 16mm Bolex cine camera with 135mm lens loaded with black and white film. A Kodak 8mm cine camera loaded with colour film and a still camera also loaded with colour film.

Relevant information.
Bolex camera’s of the 1960’s were clockwork, they run for around 20 seconds. Then take around 12 seconds to rewind. They run at 24 frames per second with 7.2 inch of film being used per second. The film usually came in 50 ft or 100ft spools. 50ft run for one minute 23 seconds, 100ft 2 minutes 46 seconds.
FPS\ Frames Per Second.
1.47 fps = 1 mile.
2.94 .. .. ... 2.. ..
4.41.. .. ... 3.. ..
5.88.. .. ...4.. ..
7.35.. .. ...5.. ..
8.82.. .. ...6.. ..
10.29.. ...7.. ..
11.76.. ...8.. ..
13.23.. ...9.. ..
14.70.. ...10.. ..
The average length of a local fishing boat on Loch Ness is 15 feet with a width of 4-5 feet.

While driving to Dores from Inverness he saw something in the loch, he swung his car across the road in a shower of gravel and prepared to film it, but at the last minute used his binoculars and saw a singular leaf on a branch. What would have been the outcome if he had not lifted his binoculars!
Next, to the 21st of April, when after visiting Alex Campbell, the water bailiff from Fort Augustus, who retold his story from 1934, he set his camera up on the hill behind Foyers Bay. Suddenly he saw a disturbance at the mouth of the river, he focused his 16mm Bolex and started to film for about 30 seconds. He then decided to get closer and drove quickly down the sharp bended road to Foyer but when reaching the river mouth it was flat calm.
He then stated that he had got the monster in the bag. If he thought this was the Loch Ness Monster, would he really have exposed 30 seconds of film before shooting off down to Foyer’s when he was in a good position to observe and had two back up cameras and never used his binoculars.
After analysing the April 23rd sighting several points do not seem logical. When first seen, the object was sideways on to him but when seen through binoculars it seemed to have turned away from him, but he could still see it end to end, which from this angle and at nearly one mile away, surely would not have been possible.
Even at this distance he could make out the colour as being reddish brown, with the naked eye, which suggests it was quite a bright colour. Several of the local fishing boats then, as now, maintained a natural wood finish. While he watched it through his binoculars the object began to move across the loch. He then started to film in heavy bursts which he likened to a machine gunner. After zig-zagging across the loch it turned left and ran parallel to the far shore. It was at this point that he saw foam breaking the water like paddle strokes with a regular beat. This he took to be the paddles of the ‘monster’ swimming just below the surface. When you watch the film it also looks like the bow of a small boat being bumped up and down on choppy water at full speed. He then shot off down the steep zig-zag road like a rocket sounding his horn and leaving a trail of dust, he missed his turning and had to loop some houses with his tyres squealing. When he arrived at the waters edge he saw nothing, because at water level a small fishing boat, finished in wood colour would blend into the far shore! or had it moved out of sight? Again he claims that he had ‘reached out to grab the monster by the tail’.
Later that day a marker boat was sent out to film for comparison with his object...Just a couple of points I would like you to think about.
He claims that signals were used because the engine could be heard a mile away, 300 feet below, this must have been a very noisy engine to be heard from that distance!
After the filming was complete and the boat was returning to its moorings he clocked its speed at 7mph. Knowing this area, I just wonder how the boat ran so close to the shore for Tim to see and maintain the same speed as it. This finished he sent a cable to the British Museum informing them he had taken two pieces of cine film of the Loch Ness Monster.
The last thought I would like to finish with is a comment made by Mr. Dinsdale on his journey home before his film had been developed, “I had caught it by its tail and no power on earth would make me let go.”
I hope at least this makes you re-read his book “Loch Ness Monster” and maybe re-think about at least some of the evidence.
I do not think for one minute that the film is faked in any way, just that for what is classed as our best piece of evidence, it should be looked at more seriously.
If any readers know where I can find the full uninterrupted film sequence then please do let us know.

If you have seen Nessie please let us know, personal details will be omitted if that is your wish. Email