By STEVE HATHCOCK
A sawfish weighing an estimated “seven or eight hundred pounds” and measuring between 12 and 14 feet in length was washed ashore Saturday at Padre Island. The marine monster, evidently sick, was discovered in the surf and beached by Joe Lane of Padre Island.
After lassoing it in shallow water, Lane reportedly pulled the fish onto the beach with a motor vehicle. The over-sized creature (the second sea oddity in as many days) was on display at Isla Blanca Park near the ship channel jetty. (The Brownsville Herald, April 20, 1958)
Old Spanish coins found
The Indianola correspondent of the Galveston Dispatch writes under the date of the 15th: The Indianola correspondent of the Galveston Dispatch writes under the date of the 15th: A short time since a gentleman, while on the lower end of Padre Island, a few miles up this side of Brazos St. Jago, (Today Brownsville Ship Channel) picked up on the beach what he supposed to be a copper cent.
It proved to be an old half-dollar with a heavy incrustation. Since this time, a great many have been found, probably more than $20. They are old Spanish coins, have no date upon them, and are supposed to be over 380 years old.
The presumption is that this coin formed the portion of the cargo of a Spanish vessel, which was lost on her voyage from Spain, along with a cargo of sweet oil, white wax, and coins for the Spanish missions in Mexico.
Your correspondent recollects some tradition on this subject thirty years ago, and many of the old citizens of Galveston will, no doubt, recollect the quantities of white wax that were brought from the vicinity of Padre Island many years ago.
As the husband of Queen Isabella I of Castile, he was also King of Castile from 1475 to 1504 (as Ferdinand V.
It generally came on shore after a gale, which proved that it must have come from the bed of the Gulf. (The Times-Picayune New Orleans, Louisiana · Wednesday, April 21, 1869.
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