The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-04-09
A GREAT FISH STORY.
lowed Out by Sea Monster in the
Gulf of Mexico.
Rochester Post E1nress.

Rochester Post-Express.
Major Fl. p. Rttzius, the United States
recruiting officer here, tells great fish
story. 1t happened in 1870
10 begin at the beginning" said the
major this morning, sin 1868 was stationed
at Ship leland, in the Gulf of Mexico.
Colonel Bss.was in command of the post
and was adjutant. In the summer eight
monster fish appeared in the harbor. They
would come quite close to the wharf and
jump half out of the water. Several of the
soldiers shot at them and from the trail of
blood they left on the water we knew they
had been hit Nevertheless they appeared
again the next day. When fall came they
went away. but returned in The summer Of
1870. Colonel Bliss expressed desire that
one OF the fish should he caught.
Accordingly The quartermasler couple
OF soldiers and myself started out In Il
small sailboat one morning. We had pro-
yided ourselves with harpoons. with plenty
OF rope attached. Pretty soon we sighted
ore OF the fish and soon had harpoon in
him. He Immediately dove down and re-
malned under water for sCme time. lie was
moving OIL, however, as We could tell by the
way our line was paying out
Pretty soon ne reappeared and we sunk
another harNoon IN him. He dove again.
This performance was repeated until we
had eight harpooHs in the fish. BY this time
we had been towed ont ten miles, and were
RAPIDLY nearing the sea, which we could OF
face with our small boat. We disliked to
let go the fish, however, as we could tell by
his struggles that he was nearly wnked.
When he came up again we could see he was
nearly dead, as he made but feeble efforts
to getaway.
1T was not long before the revenue cut
ter Wilderness, which was cruising near
by, hove in sight and took US aboard. Our
prize, which we Would not have heen n HE
10 tow in, was secured by ropes to the cut
ter and taken to the wharf. We managed
to get it on one OF the handcars used to
carry provisions from the wharf to the
post, aud conveyed il to the barracks.
There 1t was placed on scaffOlding and
measured.
'',The fish was eighteen feet long. fifteen
feet wide and six feet through. I his may
sound 'fsby,' but those are actual measure
ments. We could not weigh the monster en-
tire, but cut him UP into pieces. He weighed
1900 pounds in all. His mouth was four fee [
across and three feet deep. He had no teeth,
so we supposed he lived on matter gathered
10 the water as lie swan along His hss h
WAS not good 10 eat, but was of the same
consistency as unIefned cod-liyer oil.
There were few bones IN tie body and we
could see where our bullets had gone ell
tirely through it. ] don't know if the
shoal oil fish appeared afterward. as we
were ordered away that fall We were
unable 10 md out what species OF fish IL
was. We sent one of the photographs TO
the Smithsonian Institution al Washington,
but none OF the people there had ever hpa rd
Of such a fish. He was broadcast across
what might be called the shoulders, at
tsched to which were fins-iuats, they
might be more properly callcd-wiih which
lie propelled himself. have often wondered
what species OF fish lie was, but suppose |
shall never find ont"