Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-09-09

'takinr hooks and bait a. he went. An
excisirr scene Il was--aogdsh strug.
cling violently now an enormous Goa
swing lussy jerks, and only csas'0s
upon application Of the patent nosa.
acher y; now young halIout' us
broad surface Of pure white eifscting
strange contrast to the water; tom
cod. lung, lumpfsh, long punches
OF seaweod, great conches, crabs, star.
s,sh. every possible variety Of animA
life. came up in turn, clinging 70 the
hooks and bait. Here Gods head Was
suspended, In grim humor, the body
having furnished food for larger ns'a'
and finally, when about . mile OF line
had been taken in, 1t was evident thas
something more than ordinary wa
upon IL. Tremendous jerks came ina.
almost drove the hooks into the hauiers
hands. and so violent did they become
that Il was necessary to take turn
with the line. Even then the unseen
monster hauled the dory about IN =
manner which indicated that the hsn
was Of large size.
.No. it amt no halibut," said the
fisherman. "No SIGH luck. IL might
he ! whale by the way she pulls. A
shark, by thunder !" he exclaimed
/" and q swinger, too" as long STEM
der fin like the blade OF swordnsn
darted out Of water, "and i reckon
that lines in q mess. When that tail
comes around you wanter low bridge,
Mister, he said. The warning was
needed. as at that moment the two men
hauled in on the line, and out oil the
water came the head Of an ugly shark
that seemed to dislike the looks Oh
things, and followed up its appearance
by bending its body suddenly ana
striking vicious blow with tail the
MINER lobe of which was at least eight
feet long. II struck the boat . sound
ing blow. and the next moment was
flashing the water into foam and r. ling
over and over, winding the line into
the greatest confusion. The enraged
fishermen struck it with oars and pieces
of wood every time its head appeared,
and finally the brute was brought un-
der proper subsection and finished.
"Use for emp" said the GREATNESS
fisherman {" no, they amt worth cent,
except, perhaps, the liver, but 1t
wouldn't pay to tow it in" After half
an hour, in which the shark was well
cut up, it was cleared from the lines
and tossed adrift. In all it was about
ten feet long-a big swingle tail, so
named from the eloDgation OF the
upper lobe Of the tail, which is nearly
as long as the entire body, and
presents curious appearance. With
this the fish can strike a power
full blow, and old whalers aver that it
is used to strike the whale, while the
swordfish prods it from beneath. These
sharks have been taken twenty feet
long off the Massachusetts, coast, and
are much dreaded by the fishermen, as
they nearly always roll over and over
and do much damage to the lines. The
trawl was finally taken in; fish enough
had been caught to fill two dories, this
being considered by the men as salts
factory catch.
"There amt no fun in this when it
gets along cold weather." said the fish
erman as the boats we're headed toward
home. - Sometimes we get off here
and get caught in gale, and have to
throw all the fish overheard. One day
last year we got caught in fog, and
then it let on to blow, and we headed
for what We supposed was shore. The
only way we could tell was by the sea
runnin' in. but after a while We saw we
must be a-goin' out to sea, and SO we
were, and it was by pot luck that we
made Boon-Island light. When We
neared it never thought we'd
get ashore alive. The sea was
maxim a clean breach over it, so't
looked, but we made rush for it, and
they see us a-comin' and was ready.
We went in over the rock on sea,
and when she started to go back the
men grabbed us and run the dory clean
up. Glad: reckon We were, and
you'd thought the hull Of Wells and
York was there, fur five dories had put
in same as we did, and there we stayed
in the lighthouse all night tellin' yarns
and wonderin' if the folks thought VIC
were drownded. | reckon they did,
but it was an awful night. The sea
made a clean sweep, and came against
that front door jest as if it was a-goin'
to sweep everythin' off, and the keeper
said the light swayed so that he thought
| il was a-comin' down. Ye know Boon
islands the place where so many folks
starved to death years ago. A ship
went in there, and they got ashore or
the rock and thought they were only
ten mile from shore. They nearly al
died. There Amino fresh water there
to speak of. A few Of 'em started il
to swim, but they all got drowned, SC
the place amt got very pleasant name
but it looked mighty good to us that
night, l kin tell you."
"Do you often do that? | asked
after few moments, during which th'
fisherman had fallen fast asleep at ths
helm.
II b'leye do" he replied with
laugh. "You see, the old boat goe
right along when she gets her nos
headed in the right direction. and
: s'pose I've often sailed her four o
FIVE miles fast asleep. l never 60
fooled but once, and then / drappc
off. and the first thing | kne'
: | was ON the floor head owe
; heels. I'd run her right int
the shore down here. and Their
1 was lot Of folks a-sittin' there, al
| heard one young woman say:
I guess that old mans drunk Drum
or crazy said young chap sittin' b
!, her, but / didn't let on. l didn
blame 'em for thipkin' so, an lsneake
!; of the best could; but I'd bust
!, my cut-water so't the boat had to
fixed, and the story got out, an the
. never tired tellia' how their old Unc
p John tried to butt down the rubb
y wall. Its tiresomeish work haulin'
y trswl. b'leve I'll keep school ne
u