484 



Popular Science Monthly 



The first encounter with a devilfish came 

 suddenly with a most terrific shock which 

 threw the four men who were standing, to 

 their hands and knees. 



"The boat, which was running at full speed, had 

 met the head of a Mania, rising to the surface and 

 coming toward us at moderate speed. The shock of 

 the collision was so great that it almost stopped the 

 headway of the boat, and its bow was lifted more 

 than a foot out of the water; but our speed carried 

 the boat up over the high part of the back of the 

 Mania just as the two great black fins were flung 

 madly into the air, almost meeting over our heads 

 and deluging us with many gallons of 

 water. Then the two fins 

 crashed down on the surface 

 of the sea with a noise 

 that could have been 

 heard for miles, and 

 the Manta in- 

 stantly repeated 

 the performance 

 as I yelled to 

 the engineer, 

 'Keep her go- 

 ing.' Just as 

 the boat was 

 sliding from the 

 back of the crea- 

 ture, another huge 

 Manta rushed up 

 from below, striking 

 full on the port bow 

 with sufficient force 

 to spin the boat 

 aroundjuntil its direc- 

 tion was almost re- 

 versed. At one time all four of the great black 

 pectoral fins were towering above the men in the 

 boat, and large quantities of water were flung into 

 the bottom. First the head and then the stern of the 

 boat was highest as it was pitched from side to side, 

 and then the chug, chug, chug of the racing propeller 

 blades could be heard as they gashed the tip of the 

 pectoral fin of the first Manta. The engineer kept 

 the engine going at full speed, but the propeller 

 blades were not catching the water, and for a short 

 distance the boat was carried upon the broad backs 

 of the two monster devils of the sea. 



"Scarcely a word was spoken until, in the midst of 

 a wild upheaval of the two madly frightened Manta 

 beneath us, the boat was flung from their backs and 

 was turning over, when I shouted, 'High side!' which 

 order was instantly obeyed, two of the men, except 

 for an arm and a leg, throwing themselves entirely 

 out of the boat. 



"The boat struck head first and shipped a lot of 

 water over her bow, but we were now clear of the 

 two Manta, who raced together on the surface for a 

 short distance." 



Almost in an instant the boat was cleared 

 of surplus water, harpoon and ropes were 

 rearranged and Mr. Coles and his crew 

 were in pursuit of the two Manta, when sud- 

 denly the fish went below. In the distance 

 he saw three specimens, but all of them 

 were under thirteen feet in width ; then the 

 first two came in sight again, and after that 

 they were seen many times. The first 



It is possible to kill one of these monsters with Mr. 

 Coles' specially devised spade lance by a single well- 

 aimed thrust just severing the spine back of the brain 



showed the bleeding fin tip which had been 

 cut by the propeller, and its mate had lost 

 about eight inches from the tip of one of its 

 fins in some former encounter. 



"These two Manta appeared to have lost all 

 fear of the boat and its occupants; ' we were 

 many times in touching distance of them and 

 they both passed under the boat several times. 

 The first was a female, well above fifteen 

 feet in width, and I was about to attack it, 

 when I saw, nearly a mile away the largest 

 Manta that I have ever seen. It was on the 

 surface so I ran the boat down to it, and never 

 have I wanted to kill any one thing 

 quite as badly as I wanted to 

 kill that great fish, for it 

 was fully twenty-four 

 feet in width and 

 must have weighed 

 not less than 

 twelve thousand 

 pounds, i was 

 uncertain how- 

 ever, as to its 

 gender, and a 

 female was ab- 

 solutely neces- 

 sary, also I had 

 only fifteen hun- 

 dred pounds of plas- 

 ter of Paris — not 

 enough to cast such a 

 huge beast; but the 

 principal drawback 

 was that we could 

 not tow such a mon- 

 ster with the little 

 launch and there was no other boat in sight." 



For more than two hours Mr. Coles and 

 his crew moved among the six devilfish, 

 hoping that some other boat would appear 

 to help in towing the carcass of the big one. 

 None came and finally Coles decided to kill 

 the first into which he had run. 



"We moved to the attack. As she was passing, 

 quartering across our bow, I gave the word. Charlie 

 and I drove our harpoons deep into her broad back; 

 then, with a great splash of her fins, she plunged 

 below and ahead. As the drogue was snatched 

 under, it threw water high in the air and the shock 

 was so great that it brought the great ray to the 

 surface in that awkward, wheeling, edgewise leap 

 that Manta make, after the manner of a wheel 

 turning over. Before its tail had reached the per- 

 pendicular, I and all of my crew saw an embryo, 

 folded in cylindrical form, thrown high in the air, and 

 I heard Captain Jack exclaim, 'Did you see that? 

 The young one has a tail longer than the old one!' 

 The embryo quickly unfolded its fins and, catching 

 the air horizontally, its descent was retarded until 

 after the mother fish had disappeared beneath the 

 surface. 



"When I had hurled my harpoon and reached 

 behind me, the spade lance had been instantly 

 placed in my hand, but as I saw this embryo feebly 

 flapping on the surface, I passed back the spade 

 lance and yelled 'Give me an iron, quick!' (the 

 harpoon is always called an iron) and while not five 

 seconds were taken in the exchange, that was too 



