Big-game tunny fishing off Scarborough

Tunny was present in the North Sea until the 1950s when commercial herring and mackerel fishing depleted its food supply and it became extirpated.

[3] In 1929 the steam drifter Ascendent caught a 560-pound (250 kg) tunny and a Scarborough showman awarded the crew 50 shillings so he could exhibit it as a tourist attraction.

Big-game fishing effectively started in 1930 when Lorenzo "Lawrie" Mitchell–Henry, when fifty miles offshore, landed the first tunny caught on rod and line weighing 560 pounds (250 kg).

After a poor season in 1931, the following year saw Harold Hardy of Cloughton Hall battling with a tunny about 16 feet long for over seven hours before his line snapped.

[2] Attracted by tales of the huge fish, high society turned its attention to Scarborough where sport was available only a few miles offshore.

[2] Henri de Rothschild sailed in his 1000-ton yacht Eros but he personally chose to fish for dab whilst waiting for his guests to bring in tunny.

[9] Colonel William Francis Henn, Chief Constable of Gloucestershire, was towed four miles in his coble by the 707-pound (321 kg) tunny he caught and Peel had to put about St George to search for him.

[1][2][3] In 1947 Dr Bidi Evans fishing from her father's yacht caught a 714-pound (324 kg) tunny with which she still holds the British women's record.

Colonel Peel was interested in marine biology and he made his yacht St George available to Frederick Russell for investigating the fishes' movements in the North Sea.