Forest and Stream 
$3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy, 
Six Months, $1.50. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JULY 13, 1912. 
VOL. LXX1X.—No. 2. 
137 Franklin St., New York. 
Swordfishing off Martha’s Vineyard 
By HORACE WINSTON STOKES 
Photographs and Drawings by the Author. 
W E hoisted sail at dawn one August morn¬ 
ing and with sail and engine driving us 
alike we spun through Vineyard Sound 
before an easterly breeze and a fair t.de. The 
cliff so aptly named Gay Head was soon abeam, 
its banks of saffron, white and crimson marvel¬ 
ous in the flame of the early sun. Noman’s Land 
was passed—a solitary islet shared by a single 
family, a flock of sheep, two cows and a vast 
multitude of gulls. Our little vessel’s head was 
pointed southeast, and we made our way into 
the open sea. In number we were three, two 
veterans and a novice at the trade. Our ship 
was an able catboat, fast, strong, seaworthy and 
quick in answering her helm. In addition to a 
sail of goodly size, the thrust of a ten horse¬ 
power Lathrop engine was behind us. 
Swordfishing, as the reader doubtless knows, 
resembles whaling in many points, as the fish are 
caught always in the open ocean, are sighted 
from aloft, harpooned, and then approached and 
captured from a dory, this last partly to save 
time and partly to eliminate the danger of an 
attack on the main vessel. The sword of an 
average sized fish of this species is a spur of 
bone from three to four feet in length, covered 
with tough skin, sharp edged, pointed and with 
a penetrating power that will drive it through 
the planking of a sloop or catboat. With the 
thrust and impetus of two or threel hundred 
pounds game weight behind it, this sword be¬ 
comes a weapon to be treated with respect, and 
the fishermen prefer to risk their dories rather 
than to invite the attention of their sometimes 
belligerent quarry to the sides of their main 
vessel. 
The home of the swordfish is said to be the 
Mediterranean, but it is found in considerable 
numbers along the north Atlantic coast, in the 
bay of Fundy and on the Georges. Fish of un¬ 
usually large size, weighing from five to six hun¬ 
dred pounds, are sometimes taken as far north 
as Newfoundland, but the greater number are 
well to the south of this point. Block Island is 
well known as a favorite resort of swordfisher- 
men, but many vessels put out from New Bedford 
and Martha’s Vineyard taking fish within a 
radius of thirty miles. 
The harpoon and gear with which swordfish 
are captured are both simple and ingenious. A 
strong light rope about ioo feet in length runs 
from the barb of the harpoon along the shaft, 
and leading back from the “pulpit” in front of 
the bow where the harpooner stands, is firmly 
attached to a small keg around which it is wound 
with the utmost care. When a fish is struck the 
pole and shank of the harpoon can be freed from 
the loosely fitting socket of the barb, the barb 
hitherto being held in place by drawing taut the 
harpoon rope attached to it, and fastening the 
rope in a simple eight or quarter hitch in a 
leather strap that is nailed to the pole for the 
purpose. The keg around which the harpoon 
rope is wound is now tossed overhead, the rope 
unreeling as the swordfish darts away with the 
barb imbedded in its flesh. When the end of 
the rope is reached, the keg is often pulled com¬ 
pletely under water and the strain of its resist¬ 
ance causes the barb to turn as on a pivot at 
right angles in the wound. This turn is pro¬ 
duced by fastening the harpoon rope to the mid¬ 
dle of the barb, and greatly lessens the danger 
of the barb’s tearing from the flesh where it is 
held. 
The keg is now being towed by the fish at 
a more or less rapid rate over the water. It is 
pursued by the main vessel, and when overhauled 
is picked up from the dory in which one man 
plays the swordfish on the rope as a tarpon would 
be played on rod and reel with a possibility be¬ 
yond that of tarpon fishing, however, in the 
chance of being “plugged,” as the fishermen term 
it, by their occasionally dangerous opponent. 
To bring a fish alongside the dory and slip 
a noose over the powerful fluke is a matter of 
from twenty minutes to several hours, and 
usually requires a long period of strenuous and 
careful hauling, taking heed the while never to 
allow the line to slacken, which might cause the 
fish to turn and deliver his knockout punch, and 
never to become entangled in the coils of the 
harpoon rope that is likely to be whipped back 
over the gunwale by an unexpected rush at any 
minute. A half turn about a wrist or ankle in 
one of these rushes would send the fisherman 
to Davy Jones. The danger, however, with an 
