NJ record lobster caught by Ocean County diver July 4; no one will ever beat that record

Dan Radel, Asbury Park Press
Updated ·4 min read
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While you're sitting around the grill this July 4 holiday, raise a glass to William Sharp, who caught the mother of all New Jersey lobsters on this day in 2003.

He was diving on the sunken remains of the Almirante, an old banana boat that everyone knows as the "flour wreck," which is a story unto itself. The 378-foot freighter belonged to the United Fruit Co. and was steaming from New York City to Colon, Panama, with a full cargo hold.

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At 2 a.m., Sept. 6, 1918, a Navy tanker slammed into the ship in rough seas and heavy fog off the South Jersey coast. The Almirante went down in four minutes; five of its 105 crewmembers and passengers didn't make it out and its entire cargo load was lost. For days after the wreck, a white frothy foam washed up onto the shore, leading people to falsely believe the ship was carrying flour to the banana plantations. Its manifold said it was carrying produce.

As if that's not enough, during a submarine patrol in July 1942 in the early days of World War II, a blimp spotted the shape of the wreck from the air and reported it as a possible German U-boat. A Coast Guard cutter dropped five depth charges on the wreck, blowing it to pieces. It now lays in scattered pieces of steel in 70 feet of water, nine miles outside Absecon Inlet.

A photo that shows William Sharp and his New Jersey state record lobster on July 4, 2003. Sharp was diving the Almirante or "flour wreck." The lobster weighed 15 pounds, 3 ounces.
A photo that shows William Sharp and his New Jersey state record lobster on July 4, 2003. Sharp was diving the Almirante or "flour wreck." The lobster weighed 15 pounds, 3 ounces.

It was under one of those twisted, steel plates that Sharp, a retired Navy shipyard worker, had his standoff with what would turn out to be a New Jersey state record lobster.

"It's so confusing down there. You can only see 15 feet, 30 feet in front of you on a good day," said Sharp, who's 71 today and living where he always has, on a lagoon in the Mystic Islands section of Little Egg Harbor, or "the end of the world," as he puts it.

Sharp spotted the lobster in its hiding spot with a flashlight. But he was out of air. So he cut the rope to his dive reel, and tied it off at the lobster's location. He then followed his anchor rope back to his boat called Kitchen Table, aptly named because that's where his friends all sat around in the winter, planning their dives and fishing trips.

Forty minutes later and with a fresh tank of air, Sharp went back down, following the line on his dive reel. The lobster was still there. He turned the light off, because a bright light can spook the crustacean. Then he reached in with his hand and grabbed hold of the giant lobster, trying not to get pinched by one of its massive claws.

"The lobster will stand up in defense and just get itself stuck in there," Sharp said. "You have to dig the sand out from under it."

With the water cloudy with floating sand particles, Sharp won his tug of water and surfaced with the biggest lobster ever caught by a diver in New Jersey waters since the state started keeping records.

The lobster weighed 15 pounds, 3 ounces; it's carapace, or body, measured 7½ inches. The state's Fish & Wildlife sent a marine scientist to Scott's Bait & Tackle, where the lobster was certified, to investigate. A month later, Sharp's find was anointed king of the lobsters.

A mount of William Sharp's New Jersey state record 15 pound, 3 ounce American lobster. Sharp caught the lobster diving the wreck of the Almirante or "flour wreck" on July 4, 2003.
A mount of William Sharp's New Jersey state record 15 pound, 3 ounce American lobster. Sharp caught the lobster diving the wreck of the Almirante or "flour wreck" on July 4, 2003.

Ok, maybe not king of all the lobsters, but his catch became the official state record lobster landed by a recreational fisherman or diver. The record may never be broken either. New Jersey's Fish & Wildlife retired the lobster category because lobsters that size are illegal to catch recreationally these days. The carapace can't be bigger than 5¼ inches.

While Sharp's 15 pounder is the biggest ever recorded by the state for a diver, American lobsters can get bigger, though it's not common. The largest American lobster was 44 pounds and captured off Nova Scotia in 1977. There is also a Maine legend of a 51.5-pound lobster caught in 1926, but the mount was lost after it got smashed during transportation.

As far as the fate of the lobster, Sharp ate it. But it was too big to cook all at once. It took him and a friend a week to finish it off.

"I didn't have a pot big enough. I had to eat it one claw at a time. I saved the parts," Sharp said.

He had the lobster's carapace, head and claws mounted. He keeps it on shelf with other nautical items. It's red color long faded out, the lobster mount is now beige.

When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ record lobster was caught by Ocean County diver on Fourth of July