People swore there was something in the water. Something big enough to upend boats, something that scared fish away and left nets empty. Nobody had seen it clearly, of course; it was always “a shadow” or “a shape” or “something huge under the boat.”
The stories were consistent enough to make the more cautious fishers stay ashore. Fishermen had always been superstitious, and with reason; the sea was dangerous work, and a man who didn’t respect its mysteries often didn’t come back.