Capt.Thompson's "Big Fish" Visits Lorain – October 1926

Here's a fish story that's a double mystery.

On October 4, 1926 the article below appeared in the Lorain Journal, announcing to the public the opportunity to view an intriguing "sea mystery" that was on display.

It noted, "The giant "whale-shark" which is on display in a "marine museum" at the city docks just south of the U. S. coast guard station is a creature claimed to be different from anything ever before seen.

"Forty-five feet in length, and weighing 15 tons, the great fish is not classified in natural history. The genus or species is unknown, it is supposed to be the largest specimen of the fish tribe known in history.

"Scientific authorities, it is asserted, believe the the creature was an inhabitant of depths more than 1,500 feet below the surface, and it was thrown up by some subterranean or volcanic upheaval, which injured its diving apparatus so that it was unable to return to its native haunts.

"The fish was captured by Capt. Charles H. Thompson south of Miami several years ago.

"It smashed a boat into thousands of pieces and crushed the rudder and propeller of a 31-ton yacht with a single swish of its tail, according to reports.

"Five harpoon thrusts and 150 large calibre rifle bullets only served to increase its fury and it required five days to kill it."

Here's another vintage postcard of the leviathan.

According to the Florida International University website, "Thompson mounted and exhibited the shark by rail and boat around the country. 

"In 1922 it was destroyed when the exhibit caught fire."

So there's the second mystery: if the fish carcass burned up in 1922, what was on display in the "museum boat" in Lorain Harbor in October 1926?

Sounds pretty fishy to me.