Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 May 1894 — A FORTY-FOOT SHARK. [ARTICLE]

A FORTY-FOOT SHARK.

Believed to Be the Largest Specimen Ever Captured. A monster basking shark, probably the largest ever captured on this coast, was caught recently near Monterey, Cal., and towed ashore. S. M. Duarte, a fisherman, had set his nets for small fish the night before, and accompanied by his partner set out this morning to take in the catch. Upon their arrival they were somewhat startled and vexed to find that their nets had disappeared from view. Rowing around for a while they at last discovered fragments of the nets, and when they found some of the floats they proceeded to investigate. Slowly they hauled in the lines to which the floats were fastened, and after tugging away for a while up came a long dark object in a tangle of netting. It was the carcass of a basking shark that came to view. There lay the big fish with the waves rippling against its dun sides for a length of forty feet. Then the fishermen began the tedious task of recovering the remains of the nets in which the fish had entangled itself. With much difficulty they accomplished this. A rope was passed through the large fins and the fishermen towed their prize to the Monterey wharf. They made the trip of half a mile in just three hours and thirty-five minutes. It will be remembered that a basking shark was caught between Santa pruz and Monterey some months ago, and it is generally thought that this is its mate. This supposition is believed, as these fish go in pairs. For several years the British Museum has offered a reward of SI,OOO for the skin of a basking shark, as there is no perfect specimen of this fish in existence in the world, unless it is the one which Stanford University bought some months ago, but whether the curing of that specimen was a success is not known. The species is not rare, but they are seldom caught. Old fishermen state that the fish is the most harmless of any fish in existence of its size, and on account of its lazy, sluggish habits it has received the name of “basking shark.” The fishermen also say that the shark is seen to lie for hours in one place basking in the sun and that it will not disappear at the approach of boats, but that it is a dangerous undertaking to attempt a capture of the fish with harpoons, as, unlike the whale, the basking shark does not rise to the surface for air after “sounding,”.but makes desperate resistance underneath the surface of the water, tugging away at the line that is fastened to the harpoon and endangering the lives of the men in the boats. The size of the fish cannot yet be determined, as it is still in the ,water. The length of the one bought by Stanford University was twenty-six feet and it weighed in the neighborhood of 50,000 pounds, but this monster is estimated to weigh about 75,000 pounds and is in the neighborhood of forty feet in length.—[San Francisco Examiner.