Find a Fish
World's first Black Marlin caught on Rod and Reel.
Peter Silcock examining the Marlin skeleton in the Skeleton Gallery. The fish is registered in the research collection as AMS I.38913-001.
Dr Lidwill's boatman Dick Waterson with the Black Marlin, Port Stephens, New South Wales, February 1913. View larger image.
Peter Silcock, historian for the Newcastle and Port Stephens Game Fishing Club, visited the Australian Museum to look at the Black Marlin Makaira indica skeleton in the Skeleton Gallery.
He suspected that this fish was the first Black Marlin caught anywhere in the world on rod and reel. When first caught, it was originally thought to be a swordfish or spearfish, so was sent to the Museum aboard the steamer Karuah.
A visit to the Australian Museum Archives by Peter and Mark (the Fish Collection Manager), combined with checks of the Fish Section computer database, and old registers all confirmed that the fish skeleton in the gallery was indeed the fish collected by Sydney doctor, Mark Lidwill off Port Stephens in February 1913.
The final piece of evidence was that the fish was recorded to have been hooked through the tongue and did not put up much of a a struggle. Indeed the tongue of the skeleton at the Museum shows evidence of hook damage!
We can now confirm Peter's suspicions about the "celebrity status" of the skeleton.
Further reading
- Australian Museum Donor Schedule dated 15 February 1913.
- Hittmann, B. 1939. Editorial. The N.S.W. Rod Fishers Society's Gazette. 7(4).
- Kelly, P. 1998. Riddle of 1913 catch solved. Port Stephens Examiner. Wednesday August 19, 1998, p3.
- McIntyre, J. 2002. The first Marlin. Blue Water. Trader International Group: 66-69.
- Silcock, P. 1998. Where it all Began. Jaws. Newcastle and Port Stephens Gamefish Club Ltd. Sept. 1998: 12-13.
- See also Billfish Skeleton enquiry.
- See also Marlin dorsal fin spine enquiry.
- View the Black Marlin fact sheet.
