A Look Back:

An old sea captain once wrestled a 15-foot octopus in Newport Harbor in 1927, two local fishermen netted a 444-pound swordfish and a 400-pound sea bass on the same day in 1930, and hungry Japanese fishermen flocked to Newport Pier in 1976 during a record squid run, according to historical archives.

Capt. Ole Eliasen battled a 15-foot octopus that had taken up residence aboard the shipwreck Muriel in Newport Harbor, the Los Angeles Times reported July 2, 1927.

Eliasen was commissioned with moving the sunken ship out of the harbor that summer. A veteran diver, he donned a diving suit to make an underwater survey of the ship.

Eliasen felt something brush his arm, and discovered a massive octopus waiting to encircle him with its tentacles, the Times reported.

The battle took place 17 feet underwater in Newport Harbor.

“Capt. Eliasen several times felt the tentacles of the octopus circling his body but each time he managed to free himself, using a crow bar he carried to good advantage,” the Times reported. “Finally victorious over the octopus, Capt. Eliasen brought the sea denizen to the surface.”

Returning underwater, Eliasen retrieved five more, small octopuses from the wreck.

“Hundreds of persons came to see the dead octopus,” the Times reported. “Capt. Eliasen’s feat was declared remarkable.”

In 1930, local fishermen hooked a 444-pound swordfish and a 400-pound sea bass in a single day, according to a Los Angeles Times article dated June 26 of that year.

Two local boys, J.D. Wood, of Newport Beach and H.H. Hit, of Costa Mesa were out fishing for rock cod seven miles off Newport Beach on a 15-foot dory when they hooked the giant swordfish.

“The boys snagged him on each side of the head with their hooks and battled for three hours,” the Times reported. “Many times their boat was spun around and around in the ocean and they were carried on several-mile rides before the fish was exhausted enough to give the youth’s an opportunity to spear it.”

The boys sold the giant swordfish for $53 upon returning to Newport.

On the same day, another fisherman, C.A. Peterson, caught a 400-pound sea bass in local waters, the Times reported.

Japanese fishermen came to Newport Pier during the summer of 1976 to take advantage of a record squid run off local waters, the Los Angeles Times reported July 20, 1976.

The giant squid, a Japanese delicacy, arrived in Orange County in 1976, as part of a 30-year spawning cycle, the Times reported.

About 1,500 fishermen a night, most of them Japanese, flocked to Newport Pier during the 1976 squid run, the Times reported.

“A veteran fisherman hauled in enough squid to fill three or four trash cans” in one evening, the Times reported. “But most fishermen caught about 20 a night. Squid not immediately used are frozen.”