A daring fight between a man and an octopus occurred off Punaluu island [Punaluu, O’ahu] of Hawaii, a couple of weeks ago. Waha, a native sailor on the steamer Mauna Loa, was the victor of the fight.
    He displayed an unusual amount of recklessness, for he attacked the creature without any knife or implement.
    The purser of the vessel saw the octopus swimming near one of the small boats from the steamer and called attention to the peculiar looking fish. Waha, who wore only a pair of trousers, saw that the thing was an enormous squid, or octopus Without a word he sprang overboard to attack the creature. The sailor grabbed hold of two of the tentacles near the beak of the monster, and then ensued the most remarkable battle probably ever witnessed by any white man in that part of Hawaii.
    The most vulnerable part of an octopus is its eyes, and it was at these spots that Waha made his onslaught. He fought with his teeth and hands. The instant that the octopus felt the man’s grip it lashed madly around and then dived below the surface of the water. Fortunately the water was only up to Waha’s shoulders, and the man succeeded in getting a foothold on the bottom and thus kept his head above the water. The arms of the octopus were seen wrapped around the body of Waha, but the man clung on. He realized that he was engaged in a life struggle, for if he relaxed his hold the creature would drag him under the water and drown him.
    The octopus emitted a blackish fluid that colored the water in the vicinity of the struggling pair. But the native struggled on. He kept biting savagely at the eyes of the octopus. Once he got the right eye firmly gripped, but a sudden dive under water choked him into letting go his hold.
    The fight lasted fully fifteen minutes. First one eye of the octupus was torn away by the sailor and dually the other. With the loss of the second eye the octopus gave up the fight. The creature measured fifteen feet across. Its tentacles were as large as a man’s wrist. Watts was badly bruised and his arms and body flayed.

From— Lewiston Evening Teller. (Lewiston, Idaho), 28 April 1904. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.