On the Trail of the Sailfish 221 



fishes came in at night to feed in the lagoon, and the sword- 

 fish doubtless made for one of these. 



I do not entertain the suicide theory, believing the fish to 

 be a very stupid creature, yet a very dangerous one. I have 

 taken a number of these fishes with the grains, and lost 

 more, and they invariably made a terrific fight, slashing 

 about in all directions, though to my mind the fish is not 

 really so dangerous as a large tarpon swinging in the 

 air. 



The sailfish is not an uncommon rod catch from Palm 

 Beach to the outer reef, and has on many occasions pro- 

 vided excitement of the most intense quality. In 1901 the 

 Florida papers contained accounts of a desperate battle with 

 a swordfish off Sea Horse Key; one was hooked, and in 

 making a leap nearly fell on one of the ladies, a Mrs. Moore, 

 of Kansas City. In its second leap the fish struck where 

 she had been sitting and hit an iron part of the engine 

 with such force as to break it ; the fish landing in the cock- 

 pit, where it made things very lively for a while, but was 

 killed before it injured any one. This fish was only seven 

 feet long. I once struck what I supposed was a big fourteen- 

 foot sawfish, as it was in very shallow water between Bush 

 and Long Keys ; but when it rose, I saw that it was a very 

 large swordfish, probably the fish the Cubans call Aguja 

 blanca. My grains were the ordinary barracuda " outfit," 

 the line being about the size of a cod-line, and I had but one 

 hundred feet of it. I had the end made fast to the forward 

 thwart. When the fish felt the grains it went up into the 

 air, falling broadside on, and the next few seconds were 

 very lively ones for me, in trying to avoid the leaping snake- 

 like line ; then came the end — the line of course broke. At 

 the time I thought the fish was twelve feet long. This was 

 a long time ago, and in the dim perspective, that swordfish 

 has lengthened out and grown with the years. The sword- 

 fishes of this genus ( Tetrapturus) have not the large fin and 

 are called spearfishes, but they are equally dangerous, and 



