THE GAME FISHES OF THE WOBLD 



totally unlike the parents, both jaws being equal. In summer 

 they lie on the surface. The hunters cruise about with a man 

 in the top and when a fish is sighted, another man takes his place 

 on the jib-boom, where a little platform and a stanchion with a rest 

 to lean against are rigged. The man aloft directs the helmsman 

 and puts the harpooner directly over the stupid and lethargic 

 fish. Once stri^ck, it makes off, towing the line on the end of 

 which is a keg, which is tossed over and picked up later by the 

 men in a dory. 



One might weE compare this fish to an African buffalo or 

 rhinoceros, as it is a dangerous creature, charging boats and ships 

 often without rhyme or reason. I knew a man who was almost 

 spitted when rowing a boat near STew York, and the sloop, Bed 

 Sot, of the United States Fish Commission, was rammed and 

 sunk by one of these swordfishes. The late Professor G. Brown 

 Goode of the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, made a 

 list of the attacks of the swordflsh on ships for a number of years, 

 and collected, it made an appaUing demonstration, showing that 

 the fish is inquisitive, ugly and vindictive, and a menace to be 

 counted with. 



Many estimates as to the strength of a blow of a swordflsh 

 have been given. One, is that it is equivalent to nine or ten 

 blows of a hammer weighing thirty pounds. The British ship 

 BreadnaugM was struck by a swordflsh after the men had hooked 

 it, the fish turning and ramming her so that she was pumped all 

 the way to Colombo and there ' hove down ' and the hole found. 

 The ship collected six hundred pounds insurance on the testimony 

 of Frank Buckland and Professor Owen. The ship Wyoming 

 was struck, the sword going through a four-inch plank and twelve 

 inches in all. The crew felt the shock, but as the sword broke 

 off it did not materially injure the ship. The sloop, Morning Star, 

 Captain Taylor, was struck so heavily by a swordflsh that it 

 jarred the vessel all over. She leaked so badly that another 

 vessel had to convoy her into port, when it was found that the 

 sword had gone through planking, timber and ceihng. The 

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