THE LEAPING TUNA 



of the Mediterranean and Aegean seas, they doubtless invoke good 

 Inck, and the interest in the catch of the first tuna results, if not 

 in the sacrifice of the fish to Neptune, in the accession of prizes 

 offered by the Tuna Club for the first fish of the season, which 

 arouses great excitement and rejoicing and telegraphing of the 

 news to tuna anglers aU over America. 



I was fortunate, or unfortunate, according to the point of view, 

 in taking the first tuna of the season one year, and was nearly 

 sacrificed to Neptune and the sharks, as the fish capsized our 

 boat and gave us a hard swim a mile offshore. My boatman, 

 Jim Gardner, now Uving in England, saved my fish, and as I write, 

 its big glass eyes scintillate and gleam on the wall of my study 

 where I have sacrificed it to the honour of my courageous boatman, 

 who not only followed me, but towed the tuna in a long swim. 



When in 1898 I succeeded, after years of experimenting in 

 the Atlantic and Pacific, in landing a one hundred and eighty-three 

 pound tuna with a sixteen-ounce rod and twenty-one strand line, 

 with a breaking limit of twenty-four pounds, and the following day 

 founded the Tuna Club of Santa Catalina Island, the fact was 

 telegraphed over the world as an extraordinary exploit which 

 marked an epoch in sea angling. This fish, which I believe was 

 an exceptional tuna in the finest possible condition, towed the 

 heavy yawl ten or more nules in four hours, and died in a flurry 

 and fight which should have bought its release. But what was 

 supposed to be the impossible had been accomplished, and the 

 fine fish was taken ashore, photographed, mounted and given 

 to my boatman. Tunas had been taken before, notably by 

 Mr. W. Greer Campbell, but not very large ones, and this catch 

 seemed more truly to approximate the class of tuna I had seen 

 twenty years previous, hanging in Fulton Market, New York, 

 weighing one thousand pounds. It had been caught in a net, 

 or harpooned, and was the inspiration which resulted in the Tuna 

 Club years later. 



The impossible had been accomplished, a new sport was born, 

 and scores of anglers from various quarters of the globe appeared 



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