The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1869-07-24
A Curious Marine Insurance Case-Ex-
ploits of a S~wordfsh-
From the London News o6 December Ill

lFrOm the London News Of December Ill
We have already been puzzled to imagine how
the "a nine-and twenty knights Of fame" described
in the Lay of the Last Minstrel, managed TO
q drink the red wine through the helmet barrd-'
But in nature we meet with animals who seem
almost as inevnyeniently armed as those chosen
knights, who
. quittsI not their arnor bright,
Neither By day. nor Yet b. night
Amongst such animals the swOrdfsh must be rec
ognized as one OF the most uncomfortaOly armed
creatures in existence The shark has TO turn on
his back before he can eat, and the attitude
hardly seems suggestive OF n comfortable meal
But the swOrdhsh can hardly, even by that
arrangement, get his awkwaTdly projecting snout
out Of the way. Yet doubtless this feature,
which seems 20 inconvenient, il Of great value TO
Xiphias. In some way, rs yet unknown, it
enables him to get his living Whether he first
kills some one Of bis neighbOrs with this instru-
ment, and then cats him at his leisure, or whether
he plunges it deep into the larger sort of fish,
anil, attaching himself To- them in this way, sucks
n~utriment from them while they are yet alive, Is
not known to natgralists- Certainly he Is fond
Of attacking whales, but this may result not so
much from gastrOnomie tastes as from n natural
antipathy-cnvy perhaps ut their superior bulk.
Unfortunately for himself, Niphias, though cold
blooded, seems n somcwhat warm-tempercd ami
nal and when he is angercd he makes n bull
like rush upon his foe, without always examining
with due care whether be i likely To take any
thing by his motion. And when lie happens to
select for attack n stalwart chip, and to plunge
bis horny hoax through thirteen or fourteen
inches OF planking, with perhaps n stout copper
sheatbing outside it, he j. apt To find some little
difficulty about rctTeatinS. The affair usually
ends by his leaving his sword embedded in the
side OF the ship In fact, no instance has even
been recorded OF n swOTdfsh recovering his
weapon (f We may use the expression) after
making q lungs Of this sort.
On Wednesday the Court Of Common Pleas
r0fhor N franrc rf0Ge Lu-fhaHu fr arsrsn
into the natural history Or Eshcs-was engaged
for several hours in trying To determine under
what circumstances n swOrdf-h might be able to
escape scUt free after thrusting his snOut into the
side of n ship. The gallant ship DTeadaOughf,
thoroughly repaired, and eiassed y i ut LlOydis,
had been insured for E3. OGO against all the risks
OF the seas. She sailed on March 10th, 1864,
from Colombo, for London. Three days later the
crew, while fishing, hooked a swOrifsh. Xiphias,
however, broke the line, and Q few moments after
half out of the water with the object, it
would seem, OF taking n look ut his prosecutor,
the DreadnOByhI. Probably lie satisfied himself
that the enemy was some ~abnOrnally large
eetacean, which it was his natural duty to attack
forthwith. lie this rs it may, the attack was
made, and at 4 O'Clock the next morning the
was awakened with the unwelcome intel
ligence that the ship had sprung aleak. She was
back to Colombo, and thence TO Cochin,
where she was hove down. Near the keel was
found n round hole, an inch in diameter, running
through the copper sheathing and
p~lanking.
As attacks by swordfsh are included among
sen risks, the insurance company was willing to
pay the damages claimed by the owners OF the
ship, If only it could be proved that the hole had
really been made by n swOrdEsh. No instance
has ever been recorded in which q swordfsh had
been able to withdraw his sword after attacking
, ship. A defence was founded on the possibility
that the hole had been made in some other way.
Professor Owen and Frank auckland gave their
but neither Of them could state quite
whether n swordfsh, which had passed
il beak through three inches OF stout planking
,ould withdraw without the loss Of the sword. .
,lr. auckland said that the fish had no power of
3 backing" and c~Ffcssed lia belief that Pc couid
hold a swordfsh t~ the beak but ;tcn he admit !
81 tLat he fh i sr-l power,
nd nigh, 50 ~ hoic.r
Ind - tie insur .1rrlr. . - nav
early E5OO bees --t-4rcrI1 -- oljscted
% be hooked, a. - ~ Inning
oil tat against c. 1alukiug.