166 SCOMBERID^E. 



the middle of summer ; and the weather being clear and the 

 fish close to the vessel, we had a fine opportunity of wit- 

 nessing the contest. As soon as the whale's back appeared 

 above the water, the thrashers springing several yards into 

 the air, descended with great violence upon the object of their 

 rancour, and inflicted upon him the most severe slaps with 

 their long tails, the sounds of which resembled the reports of 

 muskets fired at a distance. The Swordfish, in their turn, 

 attacked the distressed whale, stabbing from below ; and thus 

 beset on all sides and wounded, when the poor creature ap- 

 peared, the water around him was dyed with blood. In this 

 manner they continued tormenting and wounding him for 

 many hours, until we lost sight of him ; and, I have no 

 doubt, they in the end completed his destruction." 



It is a commonly received notion, that it is in consequence 

 of mistaking the hull of a ship at sea for a whale, that the 

 Swordfish occasionally endeavours to thrust his sword-like 

 beak into the vessel. Those who have been on board on 

 such an occasion, found it difficult to believe that the vessel 

 had not struck against some rock unseen below the surface, 

 so great had been the violence of the shock, from the weight 

 and power of the fish. Specimens of ships 1 planks and tim- 

 bers, deeply penetrated by what appears to be the pointed 

 upper jaw of a Swordfish, broken off by the concussion, are 

 shown in various museums ; the forms and structure of which 

 indicate that, if they did belong to Swordfish, several species, 

 some of them attaining a large size, must exist : some are 

 evidently referable to the allied genus Istiophorus, which is 

 limited in its range to more tropical seas. Mr. Scoresby 

 states an instance of a ship from the coast of Africa, the bow 

 of which had been penetrated by a bone, which he considered 

 was the snout of a Swordfish ; and other instances are re- 

 corded. 



Captain Bcechey says, " When in the Pacific Ocean, near 



