desteuctiv3;ness op the swoed-fish. 353 



9' west, this ship was struck by a large fish, which made the vessel shake very much. Thinking the 

 ship had been merely struck by the tail of some sea-monster, he took no further notice of the 

 matter; but, after discharging cargo at Runcorn, and coming into the Canada half -tide dock, he 

 found one of the plank ends in the stern split, and on closer examination he discovered that a 

 Sword-fish had driven his sword completely through the plank, four inches in thickness, leaving 

 the point of the sword nearly eight inches through the plank. The fish in its struggle broke the 

 sword off level with the outside of the vessel, and by its attack upon the ship lost nearly a foot 

 length of the very dangerous weapon with which it was armed. There is no doubt that this some- 

 what singular occurrence took place when the vessel was struck as Captain Harwood describes." 

 In "Forest and Stream" of June 24, 1875, was recorded the following incident: 

 "On Wednesday of last week a Sword-fish attacked the fishing-boat of Capt. D. D. Thurlow 

 while he was hauling mackerel-nets off Fire Island, thrust its sword clear through the bottom, and 

 stuck fast, while the fishermen took several half-hitches around its body and so secured it. It was 

 afterwards brought to Fulton Market, and found to weigh three hundred and ninety pounds. Its 

 swprd measured three feet and seven inches, and its entire length was over eleven feet. The 

 stuffed skin will adorn the Central Park Musuem." 



In the "Landmark," of Norfolk, Virginia, February, 1876, was mentioned a similar occurrence: 

 "The brig 'P. M. Tinker,' Captain Bernard, previously mentioned as having arrived here from 

 Eichmond, leaking, for repairs, has been hauled up on the ways at Graves' ship-yard. On exami-. 

 nation it was discovered that the leak was caused by a Sword-fish, the sword being found broken 

 off forward the bands, about sixteen feet abaft the forefoot. The fish, in striking the vessel, must 

 have come with great force, as the sword penetrated the copper sheathing, a four-inch birch 

 plank, and through the timbers about six inches — in all about ten inches. It occurred on the 

 morning of the 23d of December, when the brig was eighteen days out from Eio, and in the neigh- 

 borhood of Cape Saint Eoque. She was pumped about four o'clock in the morning, and found 

 free of water. About six o'clock the same morning she was again pumped, when water was 

 obtained, and on examination it was found that she had made ten inches of water. The men were 

 kept steady at the pumps until her arrival at llichmond, and while there, and on her trip here." 

 Mr. Willard Nye, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, sends the following note : 

 "A few years ago Captain Dyer, of New Bedford, struck a Sword-fish, from a thirty-foot boat, 

 forty miles southwest of Noman's Land, threw overboard the keg, tacked, and stood by to the 

 windward of it. When nearly abreast of it the man at the mast-head called out, ' Why, here he is, 

 right alongside.' The fish was then about ten feet from the boat, and swimming in the same direc- 

 tion, but when he got where he could see the splash of water around the bow he turned and struck 

 the boat about two feet from the stern and just below the water-line. The sword went through the 

 planking, which was of cedar an inch and three-quarters thick, into a lot of loose iron ballast, 

 breaking off short at the fish's head. A number of boats, large and small, have been * stove' by 

 Sword-fish on our coast, but always after the fish had been struck." 



A nameless writer in "Harper's Weekly," October 25, 1879, narrates these instances, for which 

 I am unable to give the original authority : 



"In a calm day in the summer of 1832, on the coast of Massachusetts, a pilot was rowing his 

 little skiff leisurely along, when he was suddenly roused from his seat by a thrust from below by a 

 Sword-fish, who drove his sharp instrumi'nt more than three feet up through the bottom. With rare 

 presence of mind, with the butt of an oar he broke it off level with the floor before the fish had 

 time to withdraw it. Fortunately, the thrust was not directly upward. Had it been so, the frail 

 boat would have been destroyed. 

 23 F 



