Big-game tunny fishing off Scarborough was a sport practised by wealthy aristocrats and military officers mostly in the 1930s. The British Tunny Club was founded in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

in 1933 and had its headquarters there. The

Atlantic bluefin tuna The Atlantic bluefin tuna (''Thunnus thynnus'') is a species of tuna in the family Scombridae. It is variously known as the northern bluefin tuna (mainly when including Pacific bluefin as a subspecies), giant bluefin tuna or individuals exceed ...

''(Thunnus Thynnus)'' (or "tunny" as it was known in Britain at the time) is a large and powerful fish, arguably the strongest fish in the world, which is frequently the target of big-game fishermen. Off the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

coast in that era various records were made (including a world record) for size of tunny caught with rod and line. Tunny was present in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

until the 1950s when commercial herring and mackerel fishing depleted its food supply and it became

extirpate Local extinction, also known as extirpation, refers to a species (or other taxon) of plant or animal that ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinct ...

Tunny fishing

The tunny fishing season is mostly in August and September in Britain. In the 1930s rods six foot six inches long were used made of hickory, bamboo, lancewood and greenheart. American Ashaway lines of natural fibre were favoured. Mackerel and herring were used for bait on five-inch hooks. Often tunny were to be found near commercial herring drifters tracking the migrating shoals of herring along the coast, or near steam trawlers hauling their catches. Actual angling was done from a small boat, sometimes a coble towed to the fishing grounds behind a large yacht.

Scarborough

In 1929 the steam drifter ''Ascendent'' caught a tunny and a Scarborough showman awarded the crew 50

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...

s so he could exhibit it as a tourist attraction. Henry Stapleton-Cotton pioneered sport fishing for tunny in Britain although both the fish he hooked in 1929 escaped. Big-game fishing effectively started in 1930 when Lorenzo "Lawrie" Mitchell–Henry, when fifty miles offshore, landed the first tunny caught on rod and line weighing . After a poor season in 1931, the following year saw Harold Hardy of Cloughton Hall battling with a tunny about 16 feet long for over seven hours before his line snapped. Also on board the trawler ''Dick Whittington'' were four visitors who described the struggle as "the greatest fight they had ever seen in their lives". Mrs Sparrow caught a fish of . Each season up until 1939 saw fish of over being caught and the size of the specimens drew vast crowds. The town of Scarborough was transformed into a resort for the wealthy. A gentlemen's club the British Tunny Club was founded in 1933 and set up its headquarters there. The first president was Colonel (and, later, Sir)

Edward Peel Edward Peel is an English television and stage actor. He was described by ''The Times'' in 2010 as a "veteran star of TV dramas" and "a familiar face on television for the past 40 years". Early life and education Peel trained as an actor at Ro ...

. A women's world tuna challenge cup was held at Scarborough for many years.

High society

Attracted by tales of the huge fish, high society turned its attention to Scarborough where sport was available only a few miles offshore. Special trains were run from London to bring the luminaries. Magazines published many sensational stories covering the personalities and the yachts that sailed to Scarborough. There were Lady Broughton, the African big-game hunter, who slept in a tent on the deck of her yacht; Colonel Sir

of the wealthy aristocratic

Peel family Peel or Peeling may refer to: Places Australia * Peel (Western Australia) * Peel Island, Queensland *Peel, New South Wales * Peel River (New South Wales) Canada * Peel Parish, New Brunswick * Peel, New Brunswick, an unincorporated community ...

with his large Sudanese-crewed steam yacht ''St George''; Lord Astor, the newspaper proprietor;

Charles Laughton Charles Laughton (1 July 1899 – 15 December 1962) was a British actor. He was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. In 1927, he was cast in a play with his future w ...

, the actor;

Tommy Sopwith Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, CBE, Hon FRAeS (18 January 1888 – 27 January 1989) was an English aviation pioneer, businessman and yachtsman. Early life Sopwith was born in Kensington, London, on 18 January 1888. He was the eig ...

, who challenged for the

America's Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...

in 1934 and 1937; Lord Crathorne, later

Chairman of the Conservative Party The chairman of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom is responsible for party administration and overseeing the Conservative Campaign Headquarters, formerly Conservative Central Office. When the Conservatives are in government, the offic ...

; and

Lord Moyne Walter Edward Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne, DSO & Bar, PC (29 March 1880 – 6 November 1944), was an Anglo-Irish politician and businessman. He served as the British minister of state in the Middle East until November 1944, when he was assass ...

of the

Guinness family The Guinness family is an extensive Irish family known for its accomplishments in brewing, banking, politics, and religious ministry. The brewing branch is particularly well known among the general public for producing the dry stout Guinnes ...

, later assassinated in Egypt. Baron Henri de Rothschild sailed in his 1000-ton yacht ''Eros'' but he personally chose to fish for dab whilst waiting for his guests to bring in tunny. Lord Egerton succeeded in catching a and a fish together on a single line. Colonel Henn, Chief Constable of Gloucestershire, was towed four miles in his coble by the tunny he caught and Peel had to put about ''St George'' to search for him. Lady Yule, widow of Sir

David Yule Sir David Yule, 1st Baronet (4 August 1858 – 3 July 1928) was a Scottish businessman based in British India. The ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' judged him "arguably the most important businessman in India" and quoted his obituary ...

, sailed in her 1574-ton yacht '' Nahlin'' with her daughter Gladys, "said to be the richest heiress in the Empire". The yacht, which is now owned by Sir

James Dyson Sir James Dyson (born 2 May 1947) is a British inventor, industrial designer, farmer, and billionaire entrepreneur who founded Dyson Ltd. He is best known as the inventor of the dual cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on the princip ...

, at the time had twelve bathrooms and a gymnasium.

World and British tunny records

In 1932 Edward Peel landed a world-record tunny of , capturing the record by from one caught off

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by American champion

Zane Grey Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author and dentist. He is known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American frontie ...

. The British record which still stands is for a fish weighing caught off Scarborough in 1933 by Lorenzo Mitchell-Henry but in 1949 a larger fish weighing was taken on a line by a

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

farmer Jack Hedley Lewis. An objection from Mitchell-Henry was sustained on grounds that the rope from which the fish was hung was wet and therefore excessively heavy. In 1947 Dr Bidi Evans fishing from her father's yacht caught a tunny with which she still holds the British women's record. The last tunny to be caught was in 1954 since which time none has been caught off the coast of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

Rise and decline of North Sea tunny

The discovery of tunny raised the question as to whether they had been around but undiscovered all the time. Colonel Peel was interested in marine biology and he made his yacht ''St George'' available to

Frederick Russell Frederick William Russell, OC, K.St.J, CD, LL.D (September 10, 1923 - June 20, 2001) was a Canadian businessman and the ninth lieutenant governor of Newfoundland. Born in St. John's, he studied at Dalhousie University and the Atlantic Sc ...

for investigating the fishes' movements in the

. Although local fishermen considered there had been no tunny before World War I, these studies suggested that migration into the North Sea had not been recent. There are photographs of Peel and Russell engaged on this study.

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

interrupted fishing and after the war the technical developments in commercial fishing in the North Sea reduced herring and mackerel stocks and led to the disappearance of tunny. In 2000 a 76-year-old pensioner using a fishing rod for the first time landed the largest tuna caught off the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

for nearly 50 years. Off the north-west coast of Ireland Alan Glanville caught a fish and next day caught one of . In 2001 a bluefin tuna was caught off the Irish coast at

Donegal Donegal may refer to: County Donegal, Ireland * County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster * Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland * Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...

– a European record for any fish caught on rod and line.

References

General references

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