The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-11-09
A FISH THAT HAS A SWORD.
HOW CAPE COD FISHERMEN CARRY
OH A LARGE TRADE.
Vessels Disabled aud Sunk So mr.
poOning a Dangerous Monster of
the DCep,

Cod, Mass, to the New York Times has
some interesting information about the
swordfish industry says the writer:
"I've got standin offer of hundred
dollars for the fust young scottish can
git, " said Cape Cod sword-fsherman to
the writer. You'd think" he con-
tinued, "that that was hefty sort of an
offer, when the fish is only bringin' eight
cents pound; but, We see, there's never
been a scottish 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 diggin's. I've
been a 'd-fshing around the south of
the Cape goin' on twenty years, and
never see one less nor four foot long, and
I've took thousands of EN-"
eyes, it is big business. l don't
know Jest how many are in it, but you
kin count forty or fifty sail right around
here that makes it pint to take all they
kin git. July, August and September is
the best months. and between the fust
and fifteenth of September in warm sea-
sons I've done pretty we'll and caught as
many as seventeen in a day. but that was
extraordinary work. We hev regular rig;
Jest step aboard, 3" 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 its sharp bow and rakish mast was
not incompatible to the jaunty fish it
followed.
"Thcre's not very mnch toggery to
speak Of" said the skipper, walking for
ward. There, you see, is the place
where the man stands in striking the fish
merely an iron stanchion extending up
from the end of the bowsprit, with a
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
dashed near the rest all ready, you see,
for an emergency.
"Why lily! Wall, the prongs arc
branched something like II flower There
are five or six. all barbed, and the whole
thing ends in an iron cap that fits into
wooden handle about ten foot long. A
line is made fast to the iron that is about
two hundred feet long, the other end be-
ing fastened to key or barrel. When
we're out to sea the watch is always in
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 gifts sight of the fish he tries
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 key is
tossed over for the fish to tow until tired
out, and the schooner keeps away for
another fish Sometimes five or six are
sighted and stuck before any are taken
in. The kegs are generally painted
white and eaaily followed, and
you usually don't have much of a
fight with the fish. as tow
ing the key mile plays 'em out. But
sometimes we get big fellow on, and
then there's what green hands call fun,
tho don't see it in that light. l call to
mind one fish we struck off Nantucket a
year or so ago, 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 he'd 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 afore we got the fish alongside,
the schooner keeping on and by, but we
were afraid of passing the rope, thinkin'
it might pull out the iron Well. we grad
ually hauled in, and stood up, holdingan
oar all ready to hit the brute on the head,
when it gave Il kind of lunge or side cut,
taking the oar right between my hands,
and knocking me head over heels down
in the bottom. In the confusion the man
in the bow Stacked the rope, and the next
minute crounch, ken the fish, and up
its sod ken through the planking, stick
in about a 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 measured fourteen foot-a
putty big one. In fair weather they lie
mostly on the surface, and whether
they're asleep or just summing themselves
is hard to tell.
cts great sight he added, ''to sec
'em in among the bony fish. They go
jest like cayalryman, striking up and
down, right and left, KILN hundreds of
em, and Eve seen EN- keep adding it,
which shows they kind o. like the fun of
it. This season BIAS been putty tol'ablc
mackcrel have been very scarce, and that
makes scottish scarce, too. Off Nan
tuckct, the Vineyard, the Cape, and the
south ard to Noman's Land is what we
calculate the best tishin'."
The swordfsh is perhaps one of the
most interesting of our coast fishes
and the 500 offered for a 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
T found out to sea in the mid-Atlantic or
on the shores Of the Mediterranean,
where they are followed by the fishermen
of Messina. Here a row-boat is used
having tall mast upon which the
| watcher sits. The young swordfish, even
if found here, would hardly be reeog-
nizcd, so different are they in appearance
: from the adults. A young histiophorous,
seven inches long, resembles if anything
Il young stickleback more than it does IA
swordfish, with head like plesosau-
rus. The jaws are equal in length and
, armed with fine teeth; the eyes are enor-