The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1883-12-20
HarpOOning the SWOrdflShs

correspondent 90 You'd think, he
continued, ''that that was o heftY,sort of
an offer, when the fish is only bringin'
eight CENTS pound. but. We see, there s
never been so dish seen in American
waters less nor forty pounds, and only
| one at that Where do they breed?
Wall, that's the very pint. They don t
breed-leastwise around these diggins.
I've been a so dfshing around the south
of the cape goin' on twenty years and
never seen one less nor four foot long,
and I've took thousands of 'em., Yes,
it's big business. I don't know. lust
how many are in it, but kin count forty
or fifty sail rightround here that makes
IT a pint to take all they kin git. July,
August and September is the J best
months, and between the fust and 10th
OF September inaMarm seasons I've
done pretty well and caught. as many
as seventeen in day, but that was ex-
traordinary work. We hev regular rig;
jest step aboard and the reporter,
who had been talking from the edge of
the dock, accepted the invitation and
jumped aboard the trim fore and aft
schooner that, with it's sharp bowAnd
rakish mast, was not incompatible 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 fish-merely an iron stanchibn
extending up from the end of the bow
spirit, with resting pad of wood 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, you see, for an emergency.
why a lily? Wall, the prongs are
7branehed out something like a dover.
There are five..or six, all barbed,d and
the whole thing ends in an iron cap
that fits into wooden handle about ten
feet long. A line is made fast TO the
iron that is about two hundred feetlong,
the other end being fastened to a keg
ior barrel. When we're out to sea, the
watch is always inst the foretop, and as
soon as he sees a fish he sings out, and
the harpooner takes his place in the
rest, and, as, soon as the man. at. the
wheel gets sight of the fish, he triesu to
put it over the bow; then the man jams
her with the iron; the line is kept clear
and, when it all runs out, the, keg is
tossed over for. the fish to toWuntil tired
out, and the schooner keeps away. fer
another fish. Sometimes five OF six are
sighted and struck before any are taken
in. The kegs are generally painted
white and easily followed, and you
usually don't have much of a fight with
the fish, as towing the keg mile plays
'em out. But sometimes we get. 3 big
fellow on and then there's what green
hands call fun; though dom t see it in
that light! call tomind one fish we
struck off Nantucket a year or so 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 heistarted off, and
you'd thought we'd ruin foul of a
whale. 1t was an hour. before we got
the fish alongside, the schooner, keep
ing on and by, but we were afraid of
passing the rope, thinking it tmightpull
out the ron,n . s |
''WeH, we gradually hauled in and
stood up, holding an oar already to hit
the brute on the head, when it gave q
kind of lunge or side cut, taking the
oar right between my hands and knock
ing me head over heels down in the
bottom. IH the confusion the man in
the bow Stacked the rope and the next
minute eralnchi KEN the fish and up its
sod KEN through the planking, stick
ing about foot into the boat notthree
foot from me. he'd sense enough to
grab it, and while l hung on and lashed
it with the painter the boys pulled
alongside the schooner and we got it
aboard. He measured fourteen fo6t-a
putty big one. In fair weather they lie
mostly on the surface, and whether they
are asleep or just summing themselves
is hard to tell. It's agreat sight,, he
added, ''to see 'em in among the bony
fish. They 60 just like a caYalryman,
striking up and down, right and left,
killin' hundreds of 'em; and I've seen
'em keep adding it, which shows they
kind O. ike the fun of it., This season
has been putty st6l able; makerel have
been very scarce, and that makes
So dish scarce, too, Off Nantucket,
the Vineyard, the cape and to the
south ard to Noman s. Land, is what we
calculate the best fshin' .'''sag sa= I..s
The swordfish is perhaps one of the
most interesting of our coast fishes,
and the 800 offered for young one
would be as safe as $l.O0, as the fish
do not breed on this side of the Allan
tic, and the young only being occa-
sionally 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 a row.
boat is used, having tall mast upon
which the watcher sifsa The Young
swordfsh, even if found here, would
hardly be recognized, so, different are
they in appearance from the adults A
young histiophorops, seven inches long,
resembles If anything a young stiekle-
back more than it does q swordish,
with head like plesiosaurtls. 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 ventral region
extend two sharp spines, When about
sixteen inches long the aorsal 6n has
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