Big Sharks as Game 



considered rare sport among the habitues of the key 

 to see a novice " cross-bucked," as they called it. 

 This consisted of being thrown out of a dinghy by 

 a shark which jerked the line from the bow over the 

 rail, invariably capsizing the boat and forcing the 

 fisherman to leap into the water. As the victim had 

 been duly impressed with the ferocity of the sharks 

 and regaled with stories of anglers taken from boats, 

 this was something of an ordeal. 



I had a boat built and equipped for shark-fishing. 

 She was sixteen feet long, of cedar, very light, with 

 a small deck which covered an air tank, while a row 

 of cans along the sides, decked over, made her so 

 buoyant that she would, when filled with water, hold 

 eight or- ten men. The line was a small manila rope 

 three hundred fee*t long, with a four-foot chain and 

 a hook of steel, of royal dimensions. 



Thus equipped, two fishermen, eager for a trial 

 of conclusions with the tiger of the sea, would row to 

 a certain point of the reef which juts out into the 

 channel, and anchor by hooking on to the coral a 

 boat-hook which could be easily hauled in. The 

 ancient and honorable chummers of the New England 

 fishing guild would have looked with amazement at 

 the methods here employed to ensnare the largest 

 game. Negroes were engaged to tow out the rejecta- 

 menta of a slaughter-house, beef blood was poured 

 overboard, and, not long after, the waters would be 

 swirling with sharks fighting for the food, tearing it 



