The lure of fishing, if you’ll pardon the pun, has always been a big draw for Galveston. Both locals and visitors have enjoyed the sport since the earliest days of the city. 

 One of the most famous and successful local fishing piers was Bettison’s, also known as The Tarpon, which was built in the last years of the 19th Century. 

 Robert “Bob” Edward Lee Bettison (1864-1909) came to Galveston from Louisiana with his parents and a large family of siblings in 1871.

 Bettison had a great fondness for being in and around the water. As an adult, he went into the pleasure boat business, ferrying locals and tourists on outings around the island.

 In 1898, he built Bettison Fishing Pier, seven miles from the city on the north jetty. It was used for fishing and as a convenient docking location for steamboats. 

Male guests were allowed to stay overnight at the pier house on cots, enabling them to be ready for their next big catch at first light. 

 When the pier was destroyed by the 1900 Hurricane, Bettison took the opportunity to rebuild it in 1901 as the ideal pier he had dreamed of owning. It became one of the most popular fishing destinations in Texas in the early 1900s. 

 During the winter hiatus of 1904, Bettison expanded the enterprise again, making his pier a destination stop for anyone who visited Galveston. 

 In addition to the fishing jetties, his new two-story pier house also offered 25 private sleeping compartments (still only available to male customers), an upscale dining room, a kitchen, a first-floor lounge, and a bait and tackle shop. 

 The newly dubbed Tarpon Fishing Pier was 110 feet long and 50 feet wide, cost approximately $10,000 to build, and boasted $3,000 worth of fixtures. 

 As guests arrived, they could visit the washrooms to pick up a complimentary large straw sunhat, then either climb the narrow stairs downward to the jetties or fish from the shaded pier beneath awnings.

 

 Bettison initially offered free transportation to the pier from the foot of the 19th Street pier aboard his two boats. By 1905, he was charging 75 cents for round trips. 

 Boats left and returned several times a day. Success with the venture enabled him to build his launch boat named the Clifton for his personal use at an impressive price of $5,000.

 The same year the new pier opened, the captain married Galveston native Augusta “Gussie” Flynn Hild (1875-1909), who had been named after her maternal grandmother. The couple had no children.

 A popular saying of the day advised the timing of a productive fishing outing: “When the wind is in the east, the fish bite least. When the wind is in the west the fish bite best.” 

 Most days seemed to bring success at the pier. Thousands of Spanish mackerel were said to be caught each summer and exceptional tarpon fishing brought fame to the location, breaking records. 

 Oftentimes, reports of the number and species of fish caught, along with the types of hooks, lures, and bait used, were reported in the news. The most talked-about catches were those that required the assistance of several men to land them. 

 A photo of an angler visiting from Arkansas with a Goliath-sized grouper, weighing an impressive 551 pounds, received coverage in many area newspapers.

 In June 1906, 42-year-old Bettison sold controlling interest in the pier to Willoughby Joseph Chapman and J. H. Pierce. In a newspaper article covering the transfer, Bettison noted that his health required him to move west to a drier climate. 

 His sojourn did not last long, and soon he and Gussie were back on the island assisting in the management of his beloved pier. 

 As temperatures soared in August 1907, Bettison ads offered relief, promising “a good night’s sleep. No heat, no mosquitoes, no flies, and cool breezes always blowing at Bettison’s Fishing Pier. Spend your nights on the pier.” 

 Part of the charm of visiting the pier, which was enjoyed by sightseers as well as anglers, was the experience of reaching the location. Customers took a launch service aboard two upscale, mahogany-finished pleasure boats, the Tarpon and the Standard, to reach the pier. The route took guests past the lighthouse, quarantine station, and Fort Point. 

 By this time, so many women were enjoying these outings along with their male counterparts, that Bettison’s established Tuesdays as Ladies’ Day. They offered a special reduced roundtrip ferry rate of 40 cents. 

 In 1909, more updates were made to the pier and customers flocked to enjoy them at a re-opening in May. Just two months later, disaster struck. 

 On July 21 at 4:30am, the pier rocked in rough waters as a Category 3 hurricane arrived. Bettison, who was confident the pier could withstand any storm, remained on it with his wife and a group of guests, professing that it was as safe as being on land. 

 Survivors insisted that he refused to raise a distress flag to hail nearby ships. As the building began to fail, it was spotted by two young sailors. 

 

 Charles A. W. Hansen and Klaus A. Larsen risked their lives to make multiple trips during the storm to save over 30 people. The pier collapsed just before 11 o’clock. 

 There were other dramatic stories as well. The pier’s cook Charles Johnson attempted to carry W. Davies, a disabled guest from Groveton who had no legs, on his back in the water. The surf swept them apart. Luckily, both survived. 

 Ernest Booth, a waiter at the pier, was rescued from Morgan’s Point and claimed to have been in the water for 36 hours. 

 Of the five lives lost on outlying fishing piers, four were from Bettison’s: Captain Bettison; Gussie Bettison; Mrs. Charles Johnson, the wife of the pier’s cook; and C. H. Dailey, circulation manager of the Galveston Tribune.

 The bodies of Caption and Gussie Bettison were found 30 miles away, just yards apart, between Houston Point and Fisher’s Reef. They were brought back to the island aboard Bettison’s boat, the Clifton, which for years had ferried happy customers to his pier. Dailey’s body was never recovered. 

 Chapman and other investors rebuilt the pier and operated it until he died in 1926, at which time his wife Dora Agnes Bickert Chapman took over the business. 

Though the owners tried to popularize the name of Tarpon Pier for the location, locals and long-time visitors insisted on continuing to call it Bettison’s Pier.

 In all, it was destroyed five times by hurricanes and rough weather but was always rebuilt and regained its standing as a lucrative business. 

 Bettison’s Pier was demolished in the 1960s, and now only the fishermen’s tales remain.