The Curious Catch at Meighan's Wharf
A local fisherman pulls an unlikely stowaway from the depths of Elliott Bay.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
George Hildebrand, a young fisherman, hauled a bottle up from the bottom of the bay yesterday. The fisherman dropped his hoopnet off the end of Meighan's wharf. The tide carried the net down the bay, and in hauling it up, it dragged along the bottom. The reward of the haul was an ordinary pint flask, and the disgusted fisherman was about to throw it back into the water when something moving inside it caught his eye. When it had been washed out, he found that the bottle contained a crab about the size of an ordinary poker chip, and when its claws were stretched out it reached across the widest part of the flask. The crab had thrived and was apparently in a healthy condition.
“The disgusted fisherman was about to throw it back into the water when something moving inside it caught his eye.”
Local news items like this were common 'filler' meant to amuse readers with the oddities of the waterfront. While the specific wharf is long gone, the juxtaposition of industrial activity and strange marine biology remains a classic trope of Seattle waterfront reporting.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.