The St. Johns herald., 1886-06-24
sWoRDFIsH AND SHARK.
An E.citInG TaIe or the Deep BIue Sc.


 "what strange thing has come athwart my hawser in the last dozen yearsY unused Capt Carnes of the brig Mary, as he shifted his 4uid. Well, might tell you of bit of adventure that happened to my vessel one day among the Windward Islands of the Caribbean Sea.
 |" We were just to the east of the group, and about fifteen miles away, whe.I there came dead calm. The sea was like a mill pond, and the sun beat flown like ball of fire.
 "One of the men, who was aloft for something, discovered a large shark proving around the brig, and l gave the men permission to bait for him.
 "They baited a hook and tempted him, but he would not even smell of the pork. He was a straight-out man. eater, and he wanted sailor or nothing.
 He made two or three circuits about the vessel, his dorsal fin showing above water, and he then settled down on our port quarter, about twenty feet away, and kept his eyes fastened on the heads of the men above the rail.
 Well, sir, there was something so aggravating in that shark settling down there, as if determined to stay until some of us tumbled overheard, that we all made up our minds to drive him away after some fashion.
 We had a harpoon aboard, and one of the men used it to give the fish ,araroI bod e,achoc hut of oh NvOIlO6 he'd make circuit and come back to the old spot. You may rip shark from stem to stern and he won't seem to mind the hurt.
 By and by the men got so hot that they asked leave to man the boat and either kill the grim devil or drive him away.
 Il consented, and sailor named Williams scrambled into the yawl as she swung at the davits to cast of when she was down. The falls had scarcely been manned when one of them parted, and the boat dropped stern down.
 "The sailor was pitched ten feet away, and as he struck the water there was yell from every man on the brig. He pitched right at the shark, and we expected to see him grabbed up in second.
 " Indeed, we all saw the fish whirl over and make rush, but there was also a seconi rush, and as the sailor swam alongside and seized a rope a terrible combat began in the water. We knew that one of the fighters was the shark, but 1t was minutes before we made out that the other was a 5wordtish.
 !" I calculate that rumpus lasted all Of fifteen minutes.
 "They fought on the surface and under it, they crcled and came back, they went under the brig and around her, and the sea was churned to perfect foam all the time.
 "The affair finally ended by the shark turning belly up, as dead as a hammer, and guess there wasn't foot of him which hadn't felt thrust of the sword. He bled like a stuck hog, and was only fairly dead when the swordfish took a run for the brig.
 He backed off about fifty feet and came full tilt, and, as true as I'm sit ting here. he made her shiver as he struck. That sword of his struck good oak plank, sheathed with copper, but nothing stopped it until it showed for six inches in the hold. We saw him as he backed of. and knew that he had lost his weapon.
 " It was terrible hurt, and when breeze sprang up and filled our sails he was still laundering around the sharks body, seeming to have lost his compass points altogether.
 "On the way down to Trinidad the brig made considerable water, and when we came to unload her cargo we found the sword sticking into her as have told you.
 "A portion of it was afterward car ried to Boston, and is probably there yet"