154 FISHES OF THE EAST ATLANTIC COAST. 



numbers, and become so bold, tbac we tbougut it prudent to chaiijye 

 our ground. When a captured shark is brought alongside I'le 

 boat he will sometimes show fight, and bite a piece out of the planks 

 of the boat's side. He is easily killed by a blow on the head with 

 a club, or with a pistol ball in the same place. I have occasionally 

 gone out shark-fishing with strangers who have a curiosity to see 

 that sport. We go towards night to some sand-bank on the channel, 

 and near the Inlet, drive a stout stake into the sand, to which we at- 

 tach the end of a half-inch rope 100 feet long, armed with a big 

 took and four or five feet of chain. This hook baited with a three 

 pound fish is taken with a boat and dropped in the channel ; the 

 line is coiled up on the shore, and we wait f or_results. When a shark 

 finds the bait, which may be in ten minutes, or an hour, the line 

 slowly moves off ; when time is given for swallowing the bait, (there 

 is no nibbling in this kind of fishinj;) we give a strong pull 

 to fasten the hook, and all hands lay hold of the line to bring the 

 captive to the shore. The sjiort is lively for a few minutes, as a 

 shark of eight feet long will drag three or four men to the water's 

 <edge, when we have to give him line. Ten minutes of this work 

 >vill tire the shark, which is dragged ashore and knocked in the 

 liead with an axe — but beware of the sweep of his tail, and trust 

 not yourself near his head ; either end of him is dangerous. 



»The first time I went shark fishing, we caught seven, from six to 

 eight feet long, in an hour's time. A man who was planting in that 

 neighborhood came with a large boat and took them away for his 

 compost heap. The livers contain from one to three gallons of oil, 

 -excellent for leather dressing., >f3. C Pacetti during the war made 

 a business of catching sharks for their oil, which he sold to the tan- 

 ners at one dollar per gallon. He had a windlass at the land- 

 ing near his house, with which big reel he could handle a shark 

 alone, or if too large, his wife could help him land the monster. He 

 used to set his line at night, and usually found a shark on it in the 

 morning, unless, as sometimes happened, a bigger shark would eat 

 him. up, all but the head. He once found in the stomach of a large 

 ehark, half of an alligator five or six feet long when living — the 



