Sailfish, Gulf Stream, Florida, 1944

About this postcard

A sailfish is shown in profile against a pale sky, its long bill extended and its tall, spotted dorsal fin raised like a sail. The printed caption places it in the warm blue waters of the Gulf Stream off Florida, the current that sweeps past the state's Atlantic coast. It also notes that "sailfish" was a name given to the basking shark, an older naming aside; the fish pictured has the bill and high dorsal fin of the tropical game fish sought by saltwater anglers. By the 1940s the Gulf Stream supported a growing sportfishing trade, and the caption describes enthusiasts spending "happy hours and millions of dollars" hoping for a strike. The card was mailed in 1944 by a Navy correspondent at a Palm Beach training station to a worker at a Salt Lake City radio tube plant, linking a Florida fishing souvenir to wartime home-front industry.