September 20, 1912: The three men had been loafing around the docks at Point Isabel when one of them noticed a disturbance in the water out towards the pass just inside the jetties. A boat was launched and the three sailed out to investigate. As the craft approached it became apparent to its occupants that a manatee also known as a sea cow, had become mired in the mud.
When they came alongside it one of the men, Ramon Rodriguez slipped over the side of the boat and was attempting to tie a rope around the creature when he was struck full on the body by one of the giant’s flippers. Knocked senseless, Rodriguez would have drowned had he not been rescued by his friends.
Eventually, a rope was secured around the behemoth’s body and it was towed ashore after a hard fight. It was only because of the shallow water that the creature could not use its great weight and size to its advantage. The huge sea cow tipped the scales at more than 3,000 pounds and measured a full 12 feet from whiskery snout to its fluted tail. The captive was put on display at Point Isabel and lived several weeks.
At that time the animals were quite numerous along the coast 150-200 miles to the south and lived in fresh and salt water. They liked to congregate at the mouth of the Soto la Marina River in Mexico, which was at one time their principal breeding ground along the southern Gulf Coast. Ordinarily they are not vicious but can be quite deadly when defending their young.
“One strange feature about their appearance in the waters along our coast,” an editor of the Brownsville Herald wrote,” is that they are usually accompanied by a school of sea devils. These latter inhabitants of the ocean are of monster size frequently weighing as much as 4,500 pounds each. They are giants in strength with a wing span of over 19 feet and when harpooned have been known to pull a load of 20 boats each with 2 men aboard and hitched together by means of ropes.”
Incredibly, one of these giants was also captured off Padre Island just a few years earlier in April of 1908. Victor Delgado and Juan Vasquez were sailing in the bay near the Brazos Pass when they came upon a sea devil that had been stranded on the mudflats when the tide went out.
Their curiosity overcoming caution proved costly. As the two drew in for a closer look, the fish began to thrash about. One of the flailing giant’s massive wings smashed the boat to kindling, sending both men into the shallow waters of the Laguna Madre. With additional help from other fishermen they secured the creature with rope and towed it to the wharves at Tarpon Beach.
In roping it, the fishermen cut large holes in the fish’s body and it lived for only two days. It took the combined strength of a score of men to draw it from the bay after its death. It weighed in the neighborhood of 2,300 pounds. The Tarpon Beach Company had the hide and skeleton mounted and presumably a large enough wall was found for it to hang from. There is no record of the mounts eventual fate but presumably it was lost during a hurricane that struck in June 1909.
At one time manatees and sea devils both could be found along the coastlines and rivers of the Atlantic, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and South American areas. Due in part to the spread of civilization, and overhunting by zealous fishermen looking for unusual trophies the population of both species is much reduced and sightings along the Gulf of Mexico today are uncommon.
