Leatherback turtle at South Haven, Skomer Island 1987

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In August 1987 a leatherback turtle washed up at South Haven, on Skomer Island.  The turtle was initially spotted by Mike Brooke, who alerted Anna Sutcliffe. The pair went on to secure the turtle using a rope, landing it on South Heaven Beach at the high tide line. A team from the National Museum of Wales, made up of Peter Morgan and Piers Langhelt, came over to Skomer with hopes to "rescue the skeleton". After much work, the turtle was transported back to Cardiff for further degreasing etc.. In 2018 the whole skeleton was a centre display piece in Oriel y Parc, at St Davids. Here we present various accounts of the incident.