Handwritten manuscript draft in pencil, unsigned, six pages, 8 x 12.5, no date. Grey’s draft for a radio speech about fishing in Australia. In part: “Since I last addressed my patient and kindly listeners here in Australia I have had still more good fortune in my fishing…one day…I caught a yellow fin tuna, a fish never caught here before, and practically unknown to market fishermen. It is commercially first and in a sporting sense secondly the most valuable fish in American waters…Splash after splash…and then, suddenly, a beautiful gold and blue fish leaped high, like a greyhound. It was a 150pd yellow fin tuna. I was amazed and delighted to recognize that species off the coast of A[ustralia]. I changed my bait to an artificial lure, and began to troll with a long line…I had a hard strike, the fish hooked…I knew I had hooked a tuna and I prayed not to lose him…It was a good sized tuna…When I found yellow-fin tuna at the Galapagos Islands the Japanese and American market-fishermen were soon hot after them…This will apply here in Australian waters. Yellow fin tuna are almost as precious as the well known yellow metal—gold.” In fine condition, with uniform toning and rusty paperclip marks to the top edge. Grey spent a lot of time fishing in waters off of Australia and New Zealand, helping to establish these areas as deep-sea sport fishing destinations. In 1937 he published a book entitled An American Angler in Australia about his exploits in the region, and a significantly revised version of the second part of this manuscript appears at the end of the fourth chapter. A fine original manuscript with especially appropriate content from the adventure writer and pioneering sport fisherman. RR Auction COA.
