Sacramento daily record-union., 1883-11-03
CHAsISG THE swoRDFIsH.
Harpooning a Dangerous Monster of the
Deep.

Deep.
"I've got a standin' offer of 500 for the
first young swordfish can GIT" said a
Cape Cod swordfisherman to a correspond.
ent writing from Hyanms, Cape Cod.
You'd think" he continued, chat was a
hefty sort of an offer, when the fish is only
bringin' eight cents pound, but, ye see,
there's never been so'dfish seen in Amer
lean waters less nor forty pounds, and only
one at that. Where do they breed Wall,
that's the very best pint. They don't
breed-leastwise around these diggin's
I've been a SO so'dfishing around the south of
Cape goin' on twenty. nine years, and never
see one less nor four foot long, and I've
took thousands of 'em.
eyes, it's big business. don't know
Jest how many are in it, but you ken count
forty or fifty sail right around here that
makes it pint to take all they ken get.
July, August and September is the best
months, and between the fust and 18th of
September in warm seasons I've done
pretty we'll, and caught as many as seven
teen in day, but that was extraordinary
work. We hev regular rig jest step
aboard, and the reporter, who had been
talking from the edge of the dock, accept
ed the invitation, and Jumped aboard the
trim fore and aft schooner that, with its
sharp bow and raking mast, was not in.
comparable to the iaunty fish it followed.
"There's not very much toggery to speak
Of" said the skipper, walking forward.
"There, you see, is the place where the
man stands in striking the hsh-merely an
iron stanchion extending up from the end
of the bowsprit, with a resting pad of
wool nailed to it, so the man can lean
against it in striking. The harpoon is
called lily, and is always kept lashed
near the rest, all ready for an emergency.
TWhy a lily? Wall, the prongs are
branched out like flower. There are five
or six, all barbed, and the whole thing
ends in an iron cap that fits into wooden
handle about 10 feet long. a line is made
fast to the iron that is about 200 feet long,
the other end being fastened to keg or
barrel. When we're out to sea, the watch
is always kept in the foretop and as soon
as he sees fish he sings out, and the har-
pooner takes his place IN the rest, and as
soon as the man at the wheel gifts sight OF
the fish. he tries to put 1t over the bow
thexSs>s man Jams her with the iron (; the
line is kept clear, and, when 1t all runs
out, the keg is tossed over for the fish to
tow until it is tired out, and the schooner
keeps away for another fish. Sometimes
five or six are sighted aud struck before
any are taken in. The kegs are generally
painted white, and easily followed, and
YOU usually don't have much Of fight
with the fish, as towing the keg mile
plays EN- out But sometimes we get a
big fellow on, aud then that's what green
hands call fun, though | don't see it
in that light. l call to mind one
fish we struck off Nantucket year
or 30 ago, that KEN near cleanin'
us all out. We got on TO him all right and
followed close up, nothin' else bein' in
sight. and me and two of the boys jumped
into the dory and soon had the keg aboard !;
but as soon as we touched the rope to take
in slack he started off, and you'd thought
we'd run foul of whale. 1t was an hour
before we got the fish alongside, the
schooner keepin' on and by, but we were
afraid of passing the rope, thinkin' it
might pull out the iron. Well, we grsdu-
ally hauled in and l stood up, holding an
oar all ready to hit the brute on the head,
when it gave kind Of lunge or side cut,
taking the oar right between my hands and
knocking me head over neels down in the
bottom. In the confusion the man in the
bow Stacked the rope, and the next min
ute crunch KEN the fish and up its sod
KEN through the planking, stickin' about
foot into the boat not three foot from me.
| had sense enough to grab it, and while
hung on and lashed it with the painter the
boys pulled alongside the schooner and we
got it aboard. He measures IA foot-a
putty big one. In fair weather they lie
mostly on the surface, and whether they re
asleep OF Just summing themselves is hard
to tell.
Its a great sight, he added, "to see
EN- in among the bony fish. They go Just
like a cavalrymAn, striking up and down,
right and left, killln' hundreds of EN- ;
and I've seen 'em keep adding 1t, which
shows they kind o like the fun of 1t. This
season has been putty tol'able; mackerel
have been very scarce, and that makes
scottish scarce too. OFF Nantucket, the
Vineyard, the cape, and to the south ard to
Noman's Land, Is what we calculate the
best fshin'."
The sword6sh is perhaps one of the most
interesting of our coast fishes, and the 500
offered for young one would be as safe as
81 600, as the fish do not breed on this
side of the Atlantic, and the young only
being occasionally found out to sea IN the
mid-Atlantic or on the shores of the Medi-
terranean, where they are followed by the
fishermen of Messina. Here q rowboat is
used, having tall mast upon which the
watcher sits. The young swordfsh, even
II found here, would hardly be recognized,
so different are they in appearance from
the adults. a young histiophorus, seven
inches long, resembles if anything young
sticklebAck more than it does a swordfsb,
with head like a pleiosaurus. The jaws
are equal in length, and armed with fine
teeth; the eyes are enormous for the size
of the body, while from the head over the
dorsal and venetral region extend two
sharp spines. When about sixteen inches
long the dorsal no has become higher, the
spines begin to disappear and the upper jaw
commences to look like a sword.