148 SWORDFISH, 



It probably arises from mistaking a ship for a Whale that 

 this fish is sometimes known to dart on the former, and by 

 this error, inflict on itself the destruction it had meditated for 

 its opponent. Notices of such an occurrence are met with in 

 the writings of ^lian, who refers to a particular instance of 

 what Pliny mentions only in general terms. The remark of 

 the last-named writer is, (B. xxxii, C. 6,) that the Swordfish 

 has a sharp-pointed snout, with which it is able to pierce the 

 sides of a ship, and send it to the bottom; instances of which 

 have been known near a place in Mauritania, known as Cotte, 

 not far from the river Lixus, on the African side of the 

 Mediterranean, ^lian was so little acquainted with this fish, 

 that in one place he supposes that the injury was inflicted 

 with its fin; but he afterwards describes it with some degree 

 of accuracy, and compares the sword to the beak of the ship 

 known as the trireme, which was rowed with three banks of 

 oars. He mentions an instance that was much talked of, where 

 not only the fish was killed, but its head was torn from the 

 body by the motion of the ship, while the sword remained 

 fixed in the plank. He adds also that the Swordfish is fre- 

 quently seen in the Black Sea, and delights to enter fresh 

 water. Accordingly it is met with in the Danube, where, 

 with several other fishes, it was sometimes caught on the 

 breaking up of the ice towards the end of winter. This occa- 

 sional habit of entering fresh water is confirmed by a narrative 

 of Daniel, — mentioned also by Southey, — that a man was 

 killed by one of these fishes while bathing in the Severn, near 

 Worcester; and, to establish the certainty of the fact, the fish 

 was afterwards caught. I have also been informed that a 

 Swordfish, supposed to weigh nearly three hundred pounds, 

 was caught in the river Barrett, near Bridgewater, in July, 1834. 



Several instances in which large ships have been pierced 

 with the sword of this fish are known in modern times, and 

 the blow has been struck with such force, that not only 

 the thick plank of an East Indian merchant-ship has been 

 pierced through, but the timber, or rib by which the plank 

 was strengthened, was penetrated to such a depth as no man, 

 with all his force, could have driven a bolt. A relic in testi- 

 mony of this is preserved in the British Museum. In the year 

 1860 it was reported in the newspapers that a Swordfish was 



