The Tale of the Sturgeon Rider

By Gregory Robins

The following story was written by Gregory Robins, a board member for the James River Association.  It illustrates the importance of the work being done to preserve the James River.

            Lost for over 200 years in the annals of Richmond’s history is a classic story that many of you have probably never heard.  The tale portrays the ridiculous but time-honored tradition of man versus giant fish.

            In 1779, as the story goes, a man named Martin Hawkins was fishing for shad in downtown Richmond when a giant sturgeon swam past the rock upon which he was standing.  Thinking that a 10 foot long sturgeon would feed him and his family for a considerably longer period of time than a 6 inch shad, he dropped his net, stealthily approached the sturgeon from behind, and hurled himself onto the back of the great fish.

            As you might imagine, this leap startled the sturgeon which proceeded to carry Mr. Hawkins bucking bronco-style through the rapids and down the river.  During the ensuing struggle, both rider and fish completely submerged several times, traveled more than half a mile down the river, and eventually passed under what is now Mayo’s bridge, where a group of prominent townspeople had been witnessing this epic contest and had gathered to cheer them on.

            Exhausted, but inspired by the cheers from shore, Hawkins was eventually able to wrestle the 300 pound fish onto a sandbar and from that day would forever be known by the legendary and ceremonious title: Martin Hawkins the Sturgeon Rider.

            If you have never heard the tale of the sturgeon rider before or have never even imagined such a fish once existed in the James, you are not alone because the Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus) has been nearly extinct for almost 100 years.

            Growing to the monstrous length of 10 feet and weighing nearly 500 pounds, Atlantic sturgeon were once abundant in the James until dams were constructed on the river, prohibiting them from swimming upstream to their breeding grounds.  The presence of these dams combined with silting, pollution, and over-fishing, has led to the near extinction of these once great fish.

            Originally sought after for their delicate meat, sturgeon are now far more prized for their eggs which are unanimously considered by experts to be the highest grade caviar in the world.

            Sturgeon and their relatives also comprise one of the more ancient families of fish and their fossils date back to the Cretaceous era.  Their prehistoric-looking bodies are scaleless except for five rows of bony plates which run from head to tail.  Four, fleshy, catfish-like whiskers protrude from beneath their snouts and are used by the sturgeon to stir up the insect larvae, snails and crayfish upon which they feed.

            Like salmon, adult sturgeon spend most of their lives at sea but migrate upriver to spawn.  They breed during the spring on pebbly river bottoms in moderate current and young sturgeon spend up to three years in the river before venturing out to sea.

            As rare and unusual as these fish may be, the sturgeon found in the James are unique even among sturgeon.  The James River variety has been classified as a separate subspecies (Acipenser oxyrinchus kennicotti) and is found nowhere else in the world.

            Today, sturgeon are protected by law in Virginia and efforts are being made to help restore their dwindling numbers.  The Virginia local goal is to restore the Atlantic sturgeon to the James River by using hatchery sturgeon.  Fish ladders are being built into the dams to help mature fish reach their breeding grounds upstream.  These measures, in conjunction with the ongoing efforts to clean up the bay, will hopefully set the stage for the return of these once great fish.

UNEXPECTED RIDE ON A STURGEON
Richmond Times Dispatch, March 23, 1896