'World's Record. Tiger Shark caught on rod and reel off Sydney Heads, 11 May 1935, by E.E. Bullen, Vaucluse ...'
Sydney, 1935.
A vintage gelatin silver photograph (385 × 268 mm), mounted and glazed in a contemporary heavy timber frame (external dimensions approximately 660 × 460 mm), with the calligraphic caption written in red and black ink in the wide bottom margin. The balance of the caption is 'Length 12 ft 6 ins. Girth 6 ft 3 ins. Weight 980 lbs. Line used 36 Cord Cutty Hunk'. The photograph is not credited, but we believe it was taken by William Harry Freeman (1912-1981), at the time a photographer for the 'Sydney Morning Herald'.
The photograph has slight loss to the left and right edges; the mount has some light tidemarks to the bottom margin, and a short crack across the top left-hand corner (both blemishes are well clear of the photograph); overall, in very good condition.
The photograph is inscribed in ink in the top left-hand corner 'To Mr F. Gordon with compliments from E.E. Bullen'. Errol Eviot Bullen was one 'of Australia's most prolific early game fishermen in the 1930s', and he was renowned for the high-quality custom-made reels he designed and marketed under the 'Atalanta' brand. 'He was instrumental in Zane Grey coming to Australia and they fished together many times.... In his book "An American Angler in Australia", Zane Grey commented that "the reels made for Bullen were just about as good as any reel I own"' (Australian Fishing Museum website). A short article in 'The Daily Telegraph' on 25 October 1937 concludes with the following paragraph: 'A 980lb. tiger shark caught by Mr. Bullen in 1935 stood as a world's record for rod fishing until, 10 months later, Zane Grey landed one weighing 1036lb. Grey's catch still stands as the world's record'. Well, it certainly doesn't now: in 1959, off Ceduna, Alf Dean reeled in a great white shark weighing 2664 lbs (1208.38 kg). That record may take some beating: the next-best is still only 1785 lbs, nearly 900 lbs (400 kgs) off the pace.
Item #133972
Price (AUD):
$750.00