68 TEE CRUISE OF THE "CACHALOT.'' 



The orthodox method of catching them on board ship 

 is to cover a suitable hook with a piece of white rag a 

 couple of inches long, and attach it to a stout line. The 

 fisherman then takes his seat upon the jibboom end, 

 having first, if he is prudent, secured a sack to the jib- 

 stay in such a manner that its mouth gapes wide. TheD 

 lie unrolls his line, and as the ship forges ahead the line, 

 blowing out, describes a curve, at the end of which the 

 bait, dipping to the water occasionally, roughly repre- 

 sents a flying-fish. Of course, the faster the ship is going, 

 the better the chance of deceiving the fish, since they 

 have less time to study the appearance of the bait. It 

 is really an exaggerated and clumsy form of fly-fishing, 

 and, as with that elegant pastime, much is due to the 

 skill of the fisherman. 



As the bait leaps from crest to crest of the waveleta 

 thrust aside by the advancing ship, a fish more adven^ 

 turous or hungrier than the rest will leap at it, and in 

 an instant there is a dead, dangling weight of from ten 

 to forty pounds hanging at the end of your line thirty 

 feet below. You haul frantically, for he may be poorly 

 hooked, and you cannot play him. In a minute or two, 

 if all goes well, he is plunged in the sack, and safe. But 

 woe unto you if you have allowed the jeers of your ship- 

 mates to dissuade you from taking a sack out with you. 



The struggles of these fish are marvellous, and a man 

 runs great risk of being shaken off the boom, unless his 

 legs are firmly locked in between the guys. Such is the 

 tremendous vibration that a twenty-pound bonito makes 

 in a man's grip, that it can be felt in the cabin at the 

 other end of the ship ; and I have often come in trium- 

 phantly with one, having lost all feeling in my arms 

 and a goodly portion of skin oflf my breast and side, 



