In the first place, there was the rumor that Commodore Mills had landed some of the biggest tarpon that have risen to cheer the visitor to Florida in many years; and the tales of his other catches would fill an aquarium—if the fish did not. But the story that went furthest was the tale of how Commodore Mills, just before giving the skipper of the Cynthia the word to “head her for the Hook,” had cast a tarpon line overboard, and had hauled up, single-handed, a pair of life-sized sharks, one of them with the head of a man in its mouth.[{62}]
The story of the catch, as it was given by a supposedly veracious person at the Wolcott—Commodore Mills not being then available—ran this way:
“The morning was uncomfortably hot, and the commodore, who had come to the conclusion that if he didn’t hurry North, the hot season would get here before him. However, he decided to cast a line in the ocean for a farewell bit of sport, and the yacht being some distance from the coast at the time, she was hove to, and her owner cast a tarpon line over the taffrail.
“Immediately, it seemed, came a tug at it. The commodore began to play his catch as he would a tarpon, but the line did not behave in the same way. What was on the other end, just tugged, and before he could get a half hitch on a convenient cleat, the line had run out almost its full length.
“Then the yachtsman pulled and pulled, but the fish would not come any nearer. First one husky sailor after another was called to assist, but there was no result. Finally the commodore had an idea. Surely there could be nothing smaller than a whale on the end of that line—a remarkably stout one it was, by the way, as you will see. He was anxious to get it aboard his vessel, if possible.
“He decided there was only one way this might be accomplished. So he had the end run through the block on the end of one of the davits, and it was gradually worked in far enough to enable one end to be taken to the winch. Then the winch was worked just as if they were raising the anchor, only very slowly.
“The catch kept pulling, but it could not compete with machinery. In less than four minutes, those who were watching saw the head of a shark at the end of the line. Some twelve or fourteen feet back of this a tail was thrashing the water vigorously. It looked as if a twelve or fourteen-foot shark had been hooked.
“As the catch came nearer, to the surprise of all on board, there were two sharks, for a second had caught hold of the tail of the first. With boat hooks and strong ropes, the two were made fast and hauled over the side. When the fish were examined, the head of a man was found in the jaw of the shark that had taken the bait.”
Inquiries brought out some slight revision of this story. It is true that Commodore Mills caught two sharks, one of them weighing 970 and the other 750 pounds, but it was affirmed that they were caught separately. As for the detail that one had a man’s head in its mouth, it was learned that the big shark did fill that description, but only momentarily, when Commodore Mills had a sailor stick his head between the jaws of the fish. The mouth was so large that there was six inches to spare on every side. The shark was quite dead at the time.
With these slight corrections, said the authority, the story was true.