“THIS SEA YARN EQUALS FEATS OF MOBY DICK! – Captain of Fishing Craft Uses Shark’s Back for Exercise Board at Sea – (San Diego UP) – If the ‘Moby Dick’ yarn should suddenly become a reality, it could not arouse more interest among people of the waterfront here than did the audacious tale of deep-sea prowess of the captain of a local fishing craft. As the story goes, Capt. Guy Silva and his crew were hauling in a few tuna while they lay off Cape San Lucas (the southern tip of Baja, California – ed.). Suddenly one of the huge leopard sharks (Note: This species identification is wrong and should read ~whale~ shark – ed.), which sometimes reach a length of 60’ and a weight of nearly as many tons, heaved itself to the surface and lay alongside.
Acting on impulse, Capt. Silva jumped overboard and landed upon the shark’s back! With a shout to his men to clear the decks, he RAN THE FULL LENGTH OF THE FISH and clambered back aboard his ship before the creature could realize what had happened?! A weather-beaten Olde Salt brought the tale to port and claimed the shark was ‘a good 50 feet in length’!
When bystanders made remarks about the inferiority of Ananias compared to present-day fishermen (i.e. ‘Ananias’ is a reference to the Biblical fisherman [Acts 5:1-5] and chronic liar God struck dead; insinuating that fishermen often, including here, lie – ed.), he heatedly offered to put up ‘plenty of money’ to vouch for his ability to gather witnesses that would substantiate his story. He has seen Silva’s feat, he said! The ‘leopard’ shark (again, actually a whale shark – ed.), he added, is the laziest of the fish family. And even after Silva had regained his ship, the monster still drifted alongside as though nothing had happened. ~ Silva gained fame here some time ago when he rigged up a means of electrocuting 300-pound tuna, which did away with the necessity of tiring them out at the end of a line before they could be hauled aboard a fishing craft.”
(*Source: SAN MATEO TIMES newspaper – Thursday, January10, 1929 – Pg. 7)
*Editorial Notes: Although “Silva” is an extremely common Portuguese surname, Capt. Guy H. Silva’s paternal line/surname goes back to his grandfather John Silva born 1815 in Savoy, Sardinia, ITALY; later coming to St. Louis, Missouri and having a son (later Guy’s father) Louis John Silva, who married a Miss Emma Roslyn Sutemeier there. The name of master electrician and fishing Capt. Guy H. Silva’s most famous tunaboat in San Diego was the 95’ “Emma R. S.”, named after his beloved mother. ~
***I also wanted to include this article for the (final sentence) reference to Capt. Silva’s “successful testing” (but never fully implemented?! – ed.) of electrically stunning hooked tuna via the fishing line and pole, before AUTOMATICALLY pulling them aboard pneumatically, thereby eliminating much of the time, need, and expense of actual fishermen. Potential fishermen “on deck” in such a scenario were obviously/rightly frightened of the possibility of they themselves getting electrocuted in such a conductive/dangerous environment, not to mention the large-scale threat to their future employment and way of life. Nowadays…, I still wonder if perhaps this idea’s “time has come”?