It was a grey October day and 12-year-old Tom Piccot had taken the helm of the small fishing boat. He was carefully steering it away from Portugal Cove. Ahead of him loomed the steep cliffs of Bell Island.

With him in the boat was Tom’s father Theophilus, and his fishing mate Daniel Squires.

The year was 1873. Tom had been fishing with the men a while now; long enough that he knew his duties, but not so long that the excitement of joining the grown-ups had faded. Even a routine job, like today’s trip out on the bay to check herring nets, felt like an adventure.

As Tom drew closer to Bell Island, he spotted something; something he’d never seen before. There was an unusual object bobbing in the water, just at the surface. It seemed big.

What could it be, Tom wondered. Maybe an overturned boat? A big fish? He didn’t know.

Tom gestured toward the object and before long all three occupants of the boat were intrigued.

It was probably just debris, they agreed. In any case, it was worth closer inspection. They altered the course and moved toward the mysterious object.

Big Green Eyes

The closer they got the more mysterious the object became. It was not at all clear what they were looking at.

It certainly wasn’t wooden debris.

Maybe it was a piece of sail cloth they thought, but it it was it was like no sail they’d seen before. It seemed to have pieces snaking out across the water.

Perhaps if they hooked a piece of it, they could get a closer look. Reaching out with the grapnal they snagged it.

Suddenly the debris sprang to life. A powerful jet of water broke the surface.

What, just moments ago, they thought might be a bit cloth, was now fixing a pair of big green eyes on the boat. This creature, whatever it was, clearly did not appreciated being poked with a grapnel.

Faster than seemed possible, it struck back at the small boat, slamming a sharp beak into the gunwale, scratching at the wood.

A long pink-grey tentacle, rocketed from the water and fixed itself to the vessel, then another. The creature had hold of them. It was wrapped around the boat and it was pulling them under.

Sea water spilled inside. The men were sure they were about to lose their boat — and find themselves floating, helpless, in the waters of Conception Bay where they’d find themselves at the mercy of this… devil-fish… this giant squid.

As the boat rocked, Tom felt something hit his foot. It was a small axe. Before he could formulate a plan, the axe was in his hand and, with a swift chop, he smacked at the tentacle closest him, cleaving it from the body of the squid. He turned his attention to the animal’s other arm. He landed two quick blows and severed it.

The boat was free.

Grievously injured, the giant squid discharge a cloud of musky smelling ink and disappeared into the depths of the bay.

The men, stunned by their encounter, made their way back to Portugal Cove to share their incredible tale. Strange as it was, it was a story no one could dare challenge because they had proof — two severed squid arms.

The men recounted their harrowing escape and people gazed in wonder at the pieces of squid — one of the tentacles was an impossible 19ft long!

With the story told, and the specimens well-examined by all the locals, Tom wasn’t sure what to do with his pieces of the squid.

What do you do with a piece of a monster that tried to swamp your boat?

He decided he didn’t need both pieces so he tossed one to the dogs, who made short work of it. The longer piece, Tom thought, could make a practical souvenir. If he preserved it somehow, he thought, it could make an interesting tether for his boat.

But, that wasn’t to be.

Tom learned someone might be interesting in buying it.

A local minister suggested that Tom to take his piece of the giant squid to Rev. Moses Harvey in St. John’s, who was a noted naturalist.

Harvey happily paid Tom for his piece of the squid.

He photographed and documented it. It became part of the evidence that took the giant squid from tall tale to verifiable scientific fact. For his part, Harvey was honoured when the giant squid received the scientific name Architeuthis Harveyi.

As for Tom, whatever his feelings about the squid, it didn’t stop him from heading back to sea. “When I next saw him,” which was some dozen years later, Harvey recalled, “he had grown into a handsome, strapping young fisherman… noted for his daring, and not less for his kindly, generous disposition…”

What Happened to the Arm?

In 1898 Moses Harvey indicated that the original arm severed by Tom Picot was in the possession of the St. John’s Museum.

An article by Fredrick Aldrich and Elizabeth Brown, appearing in a 1967 edition of the Newfoundland Quarterly, suggests the arm was in England by that time.

They write, “It is believed that this specimen exists today, for the senior author learned of the existence of such a specimen, poorly labelled, but of the right period, in the collections of the British Museum of Natural History”.

Hear this story and more on the “Bell Island” episode of the Strange Truths and Tall Tales podcast.

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