92 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[August 31, 1883 



"On Wednesday of last week a sword-fish attacked the 

 Bshing boat of Copt. I>. D. Tlmrlow while ho was hauling 

 mackerel nets off Fire Wand, tin-oat its sword dear thron.-ji 

 the bottom, and -nick fasts, while ih ■■ osbermea took several 



hiilf-hitche- mound aired it. It woaoftw 



wards brought to Pulton Market, and found to weigh S9Q 

 pounds, its swoni meat M': id i- :".i; in.-ii.-~-. and its en- 

 tire length was over II feet The BtutWd skin will adorn the 

 Central Park Museum.*' 



Thr Lcuulmark, at Norfolk, Vf*., also mentioned a similar 

 nee in February, 1>-Vii: 



"The brig P. M. Tinki>r. Captain Bernard, previ 

 tioned as having arrived here from Richmond, leaking, for 

 repairs, has been hauled up ou the ways at Graves's ship- 

 yard. Ou examination it was discovered that the leak was 

 caused by a sword-fish, the sword beting found broken off 

 forward the bands, about, sixteen feet abaft the forefoot, 

 ■ striking ih'- v: ■-„•;. musl have come with creal 

 force, as the gword penetrated tUa copper sheathing, a four- 

 inch birch plank, and through the timbers about- six inches — 

 ha all about ten inches. It occurred on the morning of the 

 2iid of December, when the brig was eighteen <4avs OUt from 

 FUo, and m the neighborhood of Cape St. rtoque, She was 

 pumped about 1 o'clock in the nee-mug. and found free of 

 water. About (i o'clock tie- -.mi" morning she was again 

 pumped', '.vii ii w.-ii v w.-.s obtained and on examination it 

 was found that she had made ten inches of water. The men 

 steady at the pumps until her arrival at Ricn- 

 uiond ami while there, and on her trip here." 



Mr. WiDard Nyesands me this-note: 

 a i.-w years ago Captain Dyer, of New Bedford, struck a 

 sword-lish from a iliirlv-l'oot boat, forty miles southwest uf 

 Neman's Land, threw overboard the keg, tacked, and stood 

 by to the windward of it. When nearly abreast of it the 

 man a! the masthead called out, 'Why. here he is, right 

 alongside,' TbetUhwaa then about 10 feet from the boat, 

 and swimming in the same direction, but when he got where 



in old see the splash ol water around the bow he turned 



and struck tie- boat about 8: feet from tie stern and ju-t 

 bel.iw i he. water-line. The sword w --m through the plank- 

 ing, which was ol' cedar an inch and three-quarters thiek. 

 into a lot, of loose iron ballast, breaking oil short 11 the fish's 

 head. A number of boats, large and small, have been 'stove' 

 by sword-fish on our coast, but always after the flsh had been 

 struck." 



A nameless writer in Harper's Weekly, October :..">, 1*70, 

 narrates these instanced, for which I am unable to give the 

 original authority: 



"In a "aim dav in the summer of 1838, on the coast, of Mas- 

 sachusetts, a pilot was rowing his little skiff leisurely along, 

 when In- was suddenly roused from his seat by ;> thrust- from 



than three feet- Up '. . . . _ 

 or mind, with the butt t 

 the floor before the fis 

 tunatelv, the thrust was 

 so. the "frail boat would 



"A Boston ship haulf 

 years since, presented t 

 which had been driven 

 Plank. A mo« ouriaUBi 

 a-hauling His " 



Afri 

 Lit 



sheai.hl 



rd of thL 



■ pre 



oke it oil level with 

 withdraw it. For- 

 tward. Had it been 



ivs for repair, a few 

 sword-fish's dagger, 

 ■ into the solid oak 

 ;ht to light in 1736 in 

 .1. from the coast of 



plank, and beyond that three inches and a half into the firm 



timber. It was the opinion of ti lechaodCB that it would 



h.r," i-'iiiitvd nine strokes oi a hammer weighing twenty- 

 6ve pounds to drive an iron bolt of the same dimensions to 

 tie- same depth in the hull. Yet the tish drove it at a single 

 thrust. 



• On the return of the whale-ship Fortune to Plymouth, 

 M.iss.. in is:.';, in,- slump of a sword-blade of this Ban was 

 noticed projecting like a cog outside, which, on being traced, 

 had i ,.-••!, hi iv.-u through the oopper Bheathing, an inch-board 

 \ind"i-.ln.ailiiii.', a three-iu-h plank of hardwood, the solid 

 white-oak timber twelve inches, thick, then through another 

 twu-and-a-half-ineh hard-oafe ceiling, and lastly penetrated 

 the head of an oil-cask, where it stuck, not u drop of the oil 

 having escaped." 



Such instances could be found by the score, if one had the 

 . -ii ace t-. search, The thing happens manv times 

 a year, and nearly as often affords a test for some para- 

 grapher or local editor. 



Captain Hceehv in the narrative of tile voyage of Her 

 Majesty's Blossom, mentions the following incident -which 

 occurred m tie- r.e tic tear Eastern Island: "As the line 

 was hauling in, a large sword-fish bit at the tin case which 

 contained our thermometer, but fortunately failed iu carry- 

 ing it off." 



[TO BE CONTINUED.] 



THE NEW SHIP OF THE FISH COMMISSION. 



THE new irou steamship Albatross, which was successfully 

 launched on Aug. 1'.', will be completed, as far as the 

 contract g rocs, about Oct. 1. and will probably be ready for 

 inorr. Many newspaper statements have been 



„llo:it coie-ernin:: tie- 'ir.-t w-..rk ol ■■•..; I. ...me having it 



. I nakehei m-t trip across the Atlantic with the 

 American dsplay at the Qsheries exhibition to be held in 

 i.oiidon next spring, and others assigning her to other duties. 

 All ill"-" .speculations arc premature, as nothing has been 

 , : . sided on yet as bo Iter first field, which will depend on the 

 date of her completion. She may go into t he North Atlantic 

 to hunt up the winter abode of the mackerel, menhaden and 

 other tishes, or may make her first expedition to the Gulf of 



' The Albatross is being built by I be Pusey & .loncs Company, 



at Wilmington. Del., from the specifications of the eminent 



. Mr; Charles W. Copelnnd. Passed A ssistant Engi- 



Tho -hip is S0i)£t:'lcme"oH"the h, W, L.(3Tff. Bitf! beam. 

 molded; Pitt. Siiu. depth of hold; is to draw 12ft. of water 

 and will displace at. that draft I .000 tons of water. The ship 

 is ot iron, with an iron deck house, iron decks— beneath the 

 wood— nt either end, and is tied and braced as strong as iron 

 can make her. the iron plating running clear up to the rail so 

 that the bulwarks are of iron from stern to stem. The keel 



alternately to tiie stringer plate and to 1 ;in. above the turn 

 ol the bilge. The center keelson, on top of reverse bars, is 

 . and Sft. Sin. from that, on each side, are channel 

 bar keelsons, ilx.'ih.'xi -Hi: the intercostal plates ar 

 aected with J : -,' angle iron.-. The deck beam - ai 



by separate |iip"f. under the control of the engineer, so that 

 he cm p-u.ip out either compartment independently of the 

 others. 

 The vessel is provided with a steam wiDdiass. ordinary 

 and chains and 950 fathoms of flexible steel wire 

 hawser, SUin. in circumference, to anchor in deep water. 

 The mail n pound, driving twin screws. The 



: , |, p,-, ..,:-, • v'.iiol. .- ,1. i-in and the low-pressure eliu. 

 in diameter, the pistons all having SOin. stroke. The valves 

 are worked by .Stephenson links, eta;; the reversing gertr 

 i- worked By steam. The main cranks are set at an 

 angle of 14-5 degrees. The surface condenser contains 2,150 



square feet of surface, and the tubes are packed according to 

 the established method of the Pusoy & Jones Company. The 

 circulating pump is the Davidson patent, the water end hav- 

 ing a diameter of 16m, and a stroke of 15, The air pumps 

 are horizontal plungers^-singie acting— one oh each engine, 

 having a diameter of l.v.in. and Inn. stroke. The screws 

 are '.'It. m diameter, 14ft. 10 n. mean piten, -'eiu. long on line 



The boilers' are two iu number of the return line kind, with 

 water legs. They are 8ft. din front, sft. bin. diameter of 

 waist, 21ft. Bin. in length. Each boiler has two furnaces, and 

 the aggregate urate surface (both boilersi is about 100 square 

 feet Tic donkey pUnjps (two in numberi are of the David- 

 son make aud are arranged to be used as both lire or bilge- 

 pumps. 



Through the side of the vessel, and about Sft. above the load 

 water line, will be a permanent ash shute of wrought irou, 

 with a check valve in it aud a hood— which can be screwed 

 tight— at the top. A small steam engine to hoist the ashes 

 and autoiuaticilly dump them into the shute and return the 

 bucket to the fire-room floor has been designed by the superin- 



quired to discharge ashes, which, on many vessels, requires a 



The Albatross is to be ventilated by the aspiration method, 

 i, «., by exhausting the foul air from every part of the ship. 

 Tins is i lleeted by a No. ti Sturtevant exhaustion, driven by a 



has been urging this system of ventilation for many years. 

 The ship is to be steered by a "steam quarter master." a 

 steam steering gear manufactured by the Pusev >v Jones 



g s.'sc't at angles of BO degrees, and all working on the same 



crank pin, Ou the shaft is" a chain holder, which carries the 

 rudder chains. Like other improved steerers it has an auto- 

 matic arrangement (so complicated us to beggar the descrip- 

 tive powers of the writer) which closes ail the ports when the 

 angular motion of the crank shaft has equalled the aii.-ular 

 mot ion imparted to the steering wheel by the hand of the real 

 1 1 ua tie -master. This machine is said to work well, and is 

 guaranteed by the builders. There is a 3,000-gallon Baird lis 

 tiller on board, which aerates, cools and filters the water, 

 thus delivering it sweet and potable to the ship's tanks. 



By a system of thermometers (which -will be inverted and 

 separata the mercury), the temperature of the sea at every 

 100 fathoms of depth" will be registered. With these arrange- 

 ments the giddy depths of the mighty ocean will be 

 fathomed, and the catch placed under the microscopes and in 

 the chemists' balances of the "scientific sharps" from tie- 

 Smithsonian Institute who will be dom ciled on hoard. The 

 Albatross will cany a seine boat thirty feel in length, with 

 an immense seine of the latest and most approved make, 

 which she will lower at sea and haul in shoal places or in the 

 deep sea wherever the game is apparent and whenever the 

 weather Is conducive. There will be two steam launches, 

 the one an ordinary boat, with steam engine and screw pro- 

 peller, the other a kind of steam whale boat, with the screw 

 working, at au angle, under the center of the boat, the shaft 

 being provided with a universal joint, that the screw— two 

 bladed— may be hauled into a well when crossing shoal 

 places or pushed to greater depth when the sea is rough : tlris 

 whale boat is a life boat, and is intended for all kinds of 

 weather. Both steam launches are built by lierreshoff. 



There will be a powerful electric light, with parabolic re- 

 flector, to illuminate the surface of the wat ts at night, and 

 an incandescent electric light to illuminate at a depth of two 

 hundred fathoms. There will also be provided two large 

 laboratories, with every possible convenience for the micro- 

 scopists, taxidermists and chemists, with lathes for preparing 

 the cells on the glass slides, with every possible kind, shape, 

 and condition of jars foi» keeping specimens; the fluids, such 

 as alcohol and oilier essential oils: iu fact, all that is neces- 

 sary for the preservation of all creatures that inhabit the 

 depths or surfaces ot t lie sea, from a bacteria to a cetacean. 



Like the strange bird from which it takes its name, the 

 Albatross will make its home upon the rolling deep, its 

 voyages lasting from two to four months, without any at- 

 tempt at making harbor. The outfit of this vessel -will be 

 complete, unique, expensive. There will be a maobine for 

 souuding at great depths, with piano wire, its system of 

 cords, sheaves and springs being so adjusted as to keep a 

 uniform tension upon the sounding vvire, without regard to 

 the amount of motion imparted by the seas to the ship; with 

 this machine depths of ten miles can bo measured. At the 

 bottom of the sounding line is a cup, which automatically 

 scoops up its capacity of tho bottom, and detaches the bulk 

 of its iron sinker, so 'that iu reeling in there is only the wire 

 and the cup of sand to pull up. lor large quantities of the 

 bottom a trawl, at the end of eight miles of three-eighths inch 

 diameter steel wire rope will be used, which will be hauled 

 in by a powerful steam windlass. 



CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO THE INTRO- 

 DUCTION OF AMERICAN CATFISH INTO 

 THE RIVERS OF BELCIUM. 



Depahtment os Stake, i 



Washington, Ann. 8, l s - s -'. ! 



Prof. Spciuer F. Baird, f. S. Fith Cm issipnier: 



Sir— I send vou inclosed a copy of despatch No. II, from 

 Mr. Alfred l.efebvrc, Vico-Constd of the United States at 

 Ghent, Belgium, in which he states that the Bolgium govern- 

 ment, through correspondence with that coagulate, has 

 adopted measures for the protection of its fisheries and is 

 desirous of obtaining your co-operation in an endeavor to 

 introduce the catfish of our waters into tho rivers of Belgium. 

 1 will take pleasure- in forwarding your reply to Mr. Lefebvre. 

 Your obedient servant, 



John Davis, Assistant Secretary. 



[ENCLOSURE.] 

 Mr. I.efc.bvT.- to Mr. Davis, >"o. 11. July 86, 1883. 



Consulate op tub l 'sited Status, i 

 Uuent. July :.'(>, 1888. | 

 Jli,,.. .1. c /,•</, u-i-'iti Dams, AenBCamt Secretary of State, 



\V„*h;;,rjt„i,,D. C: 



Sir— When Mr. Wilson was consul at this port he interested 

 himself in a project for the improvement of the pisciculture 

 of the country. 



The industries of Flanders, and especially of Ghent, con- 

 centrated, exhibited as thov are in large manufacturing 

 establishments, situated on the banks of the river.-, and dis- 

 charging their refuse into the water, render it unhealthy for 

 the fish, and has resulted is their decreased numbers, ill not 

 entire disappearance in some neighborhoods. 



Mr. Wilson compared its situation to the rivers of Dela- 

 ware aud Schuylkill iu the. neighborhood of the city of 

 Philadelphia and expressed a belief that the cattish so com- 

 mon thero would thrive here. He conterred with Prof. 

 Baird, who confirmed him in this belief, and in the corres- 

 pondence which took place between thctn the feasibility of 

 stocking those rivers with these tish se:'ms to have been 

 a;: reed. 



Mr. Wilson opened a correspondence with the authorities ot 

 Flanders (which has been continued by me since his dop; 

 i :t, with other causes, aitracre I official attention 



about to be passed ta copy of which I will send to the dopai 

 ment as soon as it will have been printed) and a commit: 



which is. that the con. 

 Prof. Haird's scheme 

 Willequet. requested i 

 ment with Prof, Bai 



eral oharge of the subject. Hon. E. 

 parliament, from Ghent, is a member of 

 not wearying you with uninteresting 

 i' immediate object of this dispatch, 

 mittee desire to put Mr. Wilson's and 

 uto operation and have, through Mr. 

 is to communicate through the depart- 

 ra and secure his aid and co-operation, 

 vself have had many conversations with 

 Mr. Willequet. the governor of the province, aud other 

 authorities who are all in favor of the. attempt. 



I inclose a translation of Mr. Willequet's notes that they, 

 and a copy of this dispatch, if needed, may be transmitted to 

 Prof. Baird. 



Arrangements have been made with the Red Star lino of 

 steamers for shipment of the young fish from Mew York to 

 Antwerp, if they can be put on board, and I will see that 

 they are taken care of on their arrival. 



As you will perceive by .Mr. Willequet's letter of the 

 Sad Jul\, if he only can get to know when the fish will 

 arrive, he will have ever\lhing in readiness to receive aud 

 lodge them. 



As to the work on pisciculture or ichthyology alluded to, 

 I would like Prof. Baird to indicate one ol the best and I "will 

 procure it for the committee of which Mr. Willequet is a 

 member. I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, 



AU'-ukd Lefebvke, If, S. Vice-Consul. 



[E.vcLo.scrtr:s."| 



1. Letter of Mr. Willequet, dated 1st July; 1883. with trans- 

 lation. 



H. Letter of Mr. Willequet, dated !2d July, 1SS2, with trans- 

 lation. 



Consulate op the United States ok America at Ghent. 

 Tmnslatian of a letter of Mr. WiOemte't, dated \stJuly, 1882, 

 W Hie '". 8. Consul nt dhent. 



My i>i:.\n Mr. Lekkbvkk— I have the honor to belong to the 

 committee which has charge to elaborate the rules to append 

 to the new law upon fisheries. 



In the meeting of yesterday the committee received com- 

 municati ni of the letters sent bv your predecessor at Gheut, 

 Mr, \\ ilsou. to the governor of 'lie province. These letters, 

 among other obliging things, make the offer to supply our 

 province and our country with the eggs or live voting nan of 

 an American species, which, according to Mr. Wilson, would 

 thrive wonderfully in the rivers of our provinces. 



Mr. Wilson has" been railed to another post. I dare say 

 that the U. S. Consulate will proserve for our country, and 

 especially tor our Klanders, the goodwill showu until now, 

 and I sliatl be very happy to be'the medium to convey this 

 kindness. 



Please to honor me with tho communication that you will 

 think necessary to send me and accept, etc., etc., 



E. Willeqcet, M. P. for Ghent. 



U. S. Consulate at GhShT. 

 Translation of letter of Mr. Willequet, dated 'i'-ld July, isss, In 

 tin- f. Sf. Consular Ghent. 



SIR— 1 hasten to answer your letter, and will begin h\ 

 thanking you aud the government of the United States for 

 the courtesy shown in this instance. 1 have taken notice, of 

 the communications of your predecessor, sent to the com- 

 mittee for the elaboration of the rules upon fisheries, and I 

 am personally convinced of tho ellicaey of the indicated 

 means to new'-slock our rivers. 



As soon as these rules shall be published, and this will be, 

 along with the law, in about live or six weeks, I will take 

 care to send you a few copies of both. 



You will render good service to the public, first, by asking 

 your government to let us have the young catfish of which 

 you speak, and then, by letting me know the exart time of 

 of their arrival iu Belgium, as it will be necessary to prepare 

 for them, and this has to be done with care. I am in meas- 

 ure to make about this all necessary communications to the 

 government of Belgium. 



it would be fortunate also if you could indicate a work 

 upon pisciculture or ichthyology which would allow us to 

 study the question at the American point of view. 

 I am, ctc 7 

 ■ E. Willeqitet. 



EGGS.— Kansas City, Mo., Aug. 11.— 

 I the habits of the fish that are found 

 in our rivers', and have found a plan for increasing the yield, 

 which is to protect the eggs laid by the mother with a netting 

 (wire), which wdl protect them from other fishes and insects 

 that eat the eggs— H. Z. W. 



the Mennel 



FIXTURES. 



Men 



liKNCII SHOWS. 

 April 8. t, r> ami 6, 1S*.\ Western Pennsylvania Poultry Society's 

 fifth Annual bench Show. Pittsburgh. Pa. Entries for the Bench 

 Sliou li.-rhv. for English Betters whelped en or after March l,.J883, 

 ,. I,,.,. f).. (:l . inher 1, Lss-.>. Chas. Lincoln, Superintendent. L K. Stay- 

 um, Secretary. Allegheny City. Pa. 



September 4.— Nat 



Chickens, Fairmont. Minn. Entries for the Derby close July I, for tho 

 All-aged, Sept. J. Jos. 11. D.-.v. Columbia. Tenn.. Secretary. 



November 17 - Eastern Fj.-id Trial- Club field Trials on Quail, near 

 High Point. N. C. Entries for the b-i-iiv close July I, f or the All- 

 Aged and Members' Stalro, November I, f . N. Hall, P, O. Box Sit, 

 New York, Secretary. 



December 4— National American Kennel Club Field Trials on Quail, 

 Grand Junction. Tenn. L>. ISrvson. Memphis, feiin., Secretory. 



December 11 - New Orleans i Jun Club field Trials or Quail, OpHlnu- 

 sas. La. Entries close December 11. J. K. lieiooi.l, Secretary, New 

 Orleans, La. Entries for lite Club Cup close December 1, 



THE PENNSYLVANIA ASSOCIATION.— Pittsburgh, Pa.. 

 Aug. 20, 1882.— jB&ttar Forest and Stream: On the 7th of last 

 January, at a meeting of the Pennsylvania .State Field Trials 

 Association, it was resolved to donate two Sod cups to the 

 N. A. K. C. for the chicken trials this fall, one to the Derby 

 and one to Free for All, to be awarded to the best dog or 

 bitch competing in the trials, owned and entered bva member 

 of the Pennsylvania State Field Trials Association. The 

 Pennsylvania 'State Field Trials Association is iu a healthy 

 condition, and wo have 'many live sportsmen in the associa- 

 tion. We will have our trials, as I have written, probably the 

 second-wee* in November. MemberSh p Stakes only, a Derby 

 aud All Aged will be ruu. We contemplate an interesting 

 occasion, ns there ar" many line field dogs in the bauds of the 

 member.,, and all are anxious U> demonstrate his the best. I 

 believe Pittsburgh can lioa,-t as mam- thoroughly trained 

 dogs as any city in the Uniari. All arrangem>ents auttdetaUs 

 for trials is iu the. hands of the executive committee, which 

 will be reported later. — I. II. Stayto.v, Secretary. 



WELL-BBED POINTEBS FOB SALE.— Any one in search 

 ot'goort pointer blood will do w. -11 , . read to advertisement of 

 Mr. G. Do Eorest Grant, wbo offers for sale a portion of the litter 

 bv Sensation out of Mill- ■•! i I hi ■•. arecxcoptionably wall-bred, 

 and will undoubtedly find ready purchasers. 



