ELEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. L¥7 
sheathing, a three-inch plank of hard wood, the solid white-oak 
timber twelve inches thick, then through another two-and-a-half- 
inch hard-oak ceiling, and lastly penetrated the head of an oil- 
cask, where it stuck, not a drop of the oil having escaped.” 
Such instances could be found by the score, if one had the 
time and patience to search. The thing happens many times a 
year, and nearly as often affords a text for some paragrapher or 
local editor. 
Captain Beechy in the narrative of the voyage of Her Majesty’s 
ship Blossom, mentions the following incident which occurred in 
the Pacific, near Eastern Island: “ As the line was hauling in,a 
large swordfish bit at the tin case which contained our ther- 
mometer, but fortunately failed in carrying it off.” 
PUGNACITY OF THE SPEARFISH. 
The spearfish (Zetrapturus albidus, etc.) also strikes vessels. I 
am indebted to Capt. William Spicer, of Noank, Conn., for this 
note : 
“Mr. William Taylor. of Mystic, a man seventy six years old, 
who was in the smack Evergreen, Capt. John Appleman, tells 
me that they started from Mystic, October 3rd, 1832, on a fishing 
voyage to Key West, in company with the smack Morning Star, 
Captain Rowland. On the rzth they were off Cape Hatteras, 
the wind blowing heavily from the northeast, and the smack 
under double-reefed sails. At ten o’clock in the evening they were 
struck by a ‘ woho’ (sc), which shocked the vessel all over. The 
smack was leaking badly, and they made a signal to the Morn- 
ing Star to keep close by them. The next morning they found 
the leak, and both smacks kept off to Charleston. On arrival 
they took out the ballast, hove her out, and found that the sword 
had gone through the planking, timber and ceiling. The plank 
was two inches thick, the timbers five inches, and the ceiling one 
and a half inches white oak. The sword projected two inches 
through the ceiling, on the inside of the ‘after run.’* It struck 
close by a butt on the outside, which caused the leak. They 
took out and replaced a piece of the plank, and proceeded on 
their voyage.” 
* A hold under the cabin. 
