“Big Game of the Seas”

Theodore Roosevelt’s Giant Manta Ray Hunt in March 1917

We all know Theodore Roosevelt as an outdoorsman, as a conservationist, as a hunter, and maybe as a birder if you read the February issue of Missing Pieces. But I’m guessing you probably don’t know that TR was a fisherman as well.

In fact, Herbert Hoover, our thirty-first president, said in Fishing For Fun, “President Theodore Roosevelt, President Cleveland and myself—with slight egotism!—I think, are the only Presidents who had been lifelong fly fisherman before they went to the White House” (71).

In honor of National Zoo and Aquarium Month, I wanted to share what I consider to be one of the most interesting episodes in TR’s life: his hunt for giant manta rays. While this activity wouldn’t be considered appropriate today, especially since giant manta rays are listed as “threatened,” there was not the same stigma in TR’s day.

Source: David Starr Jordan, Fishes (New York City: Henry Holt and Company, 1907). Freshwater and Marine Image Bank. Wikimedia Commons.

In fact, the man who invited him to go manta ray fishing was renowned ichthyologist Russell J. Coles, who was known for his expertise on manta rays and his experience hunting manta rays. Coles had even donated one ray he harpooned—which had a wingspan of eighteen feet, two inches—to the American Museum of Natural History.

Source: Russell J. Coles killing big devil fish. Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.

And this size wasn’t unusual for a manta ray. Giant manta rays—what TR and his contemporaries called “devilfish”—have an average wingspan of 15 feet and weigh between 50-100 pounds per foot. Since this means a 15-foot manta ray could weigh up to 1,500 pounds or three-quarters of a ton, manta rays are definitely the big game of the seas!

In late March 1917, TR, Coles, and their crew headed to Captiva Island on the Gulf of Mexico about thirty miles south of Punta Gorda, Florida. Below is a picture of TR and Coles on their floating camp, dressed for hunting manta rays.

Source: Theodore Roosevelt and Russell J. Coles on fishing trip. Trinity College-Deceased Alumni PhotoFile. Watkinson Library and College Archives, Trinity College (Hartford, CT). Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.

On March 26, 1917, the crew took to the water for their first day in search of giant manta rays. And they got lucky! As TR noted in a Scribner’s Magazine article:

“Suddenly Roland [one of the deck hands], standing on the bow, pointed ahead, and immediately afterward the rest of us also saw the devilfish. It was half a mile off, swimming rather slowly through the water, so near the surface that now and then its glistening black mass appeared for a moment above. The huge batlike wings flapped steadily; occasionally the point of one was thrust into the air.”

As the guest of honor, TR was allowed to throw the harpoon, but missed, noting, “this particular devilfish was not destined to be mine.” Fortunately for TR, they soon saw four or five other giant manta rays. TR tried throwing the harpoon again—and this time, he succeeded.

Source: Theodore Roosevelt, “Harpooning Devilfish,” Scribner’s Magazine 62, no. 1 (July 1917): 293-305.

After the crew hauled the manta ray ashore, they realized it was an adult male of average size with a wingspan of thirteen feet, two inches. The men had seen a larger ray, so they headed back out in hopes of harpooning the bigger one. Once they found the larger ray, TR was again allowed to throw the harpoon, and he again speared the manta ray successfully.

When the crew brought this manta ray ashore, they discovered it was a female that had a wingspan of sixteen feet, eight inches—indicative of the female manta ray’s larger size compared to the male.

Below is a picture of TR and Coles with the two manta rays TR harpooned on March 26, 1917. Given the size difference, I am guessing the female manta ray is in front and the male manta ray is in the back.

Source: Russell J. Coles and Theodore Roosevelt with harpooned manta rays. Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.

It had indeed been a lucky and successful day, one that Coles had never experienced before in his previous adventures hunting for giant manta rays. But, as TR noted in his article in Scribner’s Magazine, “I did not care to kill any more of the huge, rare creatures.”

Instead, TR spent the rest of his time observing other wildlife off the coast of Florida from sharks to birds. As he notes in the conclusion of his article:

“It was a thoroughly enjoyable trip. My success was, of course, entirely owing to the masterly efficiency of my host and of his four fine sailormen and killers of the big game of the seas.”