The Helm

Hidden places of KeyWest Where are we?

Photographer unknown 1936 Sara Houston Chisholm, officially Mrs. S. Kip Farrington Jr. but called Chissie, caught two giant tuna in September 1936 in Nova Scotia. Her husband, a "gentleman sportsman," had been an editor at Field and Stream magazine but retired to East Hampton at a young age to pursue sports and write. Mrs. Farrington, who kept up with her husband on the seas, was the first woman known to land a broadbill swordfish (it weighed 584 pounds), and she received written congratulations from none other than Ernest Hemingway. At her right above is the 493-pound fish she battled for 10 hours and 35 minutes; at her left a 720-pounder she took in 1 hour and 38 minutes.