Rachel Brooks Bottle

The Legend of the Golden Shark

The first and only recorded Golden Shark was caught in the North Atlantic in the late summer of 1924. It was brought into port in New Bedford, Massachusetts and put on display, hanging from a tuna hook, for all to see (10 cent viewing fee was charged). It measured 14 feet long; closely resembling a Blue Shark.   After two weeks of viewing, the carcass/remains were packed in ice and shipped, via truck, to the Smithsonian Institute/Museum for a team of taxidermists to curate and ready for display.

The truck never arrived in our Nation’s Capital and the remains of the Golden were never found. The US government sent investigators to New Bedford and found nothing. They drove the route that the delivery truck supposedly had mapped out, interviewing people that lived along the route and found nothing again.

To this day we have seen no photographs, shipping documents nor decedents from the New Bedford area who might have even an inkling of knowledge about the Golden Shark.

So now, 100 years later, Blue Shark Vodka is proud to introduce our collaboration with scientific illustration and conservation artist Rachel Brooks. Rachel is our 2024 limited edition artist. Hailing from the United Kingdom she currently resides in the Scottish Highlands and combines a degree in zoology, countless dives, and her love for both art and marine life into what she terms ‘artivism,’ combining the terms ‘art’ with ‘activism’.

While using art as an essential communication tool to reconnect us to the natural world, she joyfully tells the ocean’s story through her beautiful blend of simple, yet modern marine life drawings and illustrates the connectivity of our natural world – both within itself and within ourselves. Highlighting the weird, the wonderful, and all life in between, it is her hope to connect each and every one of us to the sea and the incredible ecosystem beneath the waves.