What a Fish!

In my research, I stumbled across this fun article that was published in the Portsmouth Gazette in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on June 10, 1768. It seems to be a reprint of an article originally published in the Virginia Gazette in Williamsburg, Virginia sometime after May 5th of the same year, about an incident that happened in the Mobjack. It seems to me that even in the 18th century, fishermen told tall tales. Enjoy!

WILLIAMSBURG, Virginia, May 5. The following account, says the person who sent it, can be well attested. In February 1767, a sloop was sank in Mobjack bay, near New Point Comfort, by a squall of wind; and thro’ the negligence, or inability of the owners, lay near twelve months under water.— Upon her being raised, a fish was found confined in her hold, so large, that her decks were obliged to be broke up to get it out, and upon being measured, was found to be full half as long as the vessel. It is something surprizing, how a fish of that size could remain so long in such a confined situation.