The Portland daily press., 1892-07-12

Exciting Indust ry-H abits of the Fish
and Dangers of the Fishery-Uncomfort-
able Surprise of a Monhegan Fisher
| man.
The schooner Emma Wixom, of Harps-
well, was in the harbor Saturday fitting
out for sword fishing. Portland is quite
centre for this industry, and the school,
ners, with the platform and iron railing
for the spearman, are seen quite fire.
| quently in the harbor. Most of the fish
ermen who fish for haddock in the win
ter try sword fishing at this season. In
the fleet which is now in the vicinity of
No Mans Land and Marthas Vineyard
are dozen or twenty Portland sail.
| This fleet will gradually work East with
the sword fish, finally reaching the Bay
of Fundy, where has been one of the
best fishing grounds of late years.
Sword fishing is at once exciting, per-
ilous and remunerative. Last year
sword fish sold as high as eleven cents a
pound in this port, and single fish will
often weigh 500 or even 1000 pounds.
The method of getting the fish affords
an opportunity for great sport. Like
the shark the sword fish can be seen for
a considerable distance by his back fin,
which protrudes above the surface of the
water as he swims. But unlike the
shark the sword fish moves steadily, with
the upper tip of his tail also out of water,
as rigid and steady as the fin itself. The
sword fish also generally go in shoals.
The sword fish is captured by means
of a long spear or harpoon. To the shank
of this spear is attached a stout line
about six hundred feet long; and to the
end of the line is made fast stout,
water-tight cask. Each harpoon is good
for one swordfish, and a schooner usu-
ally carries a considerable number of
them. The fish may be harpooned from
dories or from the bowsprit of the
schooer. In smooth weather the dories
are used, but in rough weather the bow
spirit is the only safe place.
The happening of the fish is fine sport.
The spearman either throws his harpoon
at the sword fish, or makes thrust. In
either case no attempt is made to retain
control of the harpoon, for the great fish
at once is off at lightning speed. He
generally dives down to thesdepths of the
ocean when he feels the harpoon, but
later comes nearer the surface An old
sword-fsherman of Portland says that
after having gone to the bottom the fish
always starts away in a southerly direc-
ton. The reason for this may be in the
fact that on this coast such direction
leads to the open ocean. The cask, at
the other end of the 600 feet Of line is
relied on to mark the location of the fish
when he shall have given up; and the
fisherman proceeds to harpoon another
victim.
The sword fish lives from five to ten
hours after it is harpooned, and at any
time in that period he is dangerous
customer for the fisherman. Indeed,
sword fishing is one of the most danger
GUS as well as most exciting Of all the
variety of enterprises pursued by our
fishermen. Not many years ago some
Wood Island fishermen struck large
sword fish, that darted away with great
rapidity when he was harpooned. By
some mishap one of the men got his leg
entangled in the coil of the line that was
being hauled overheard with irresisti BILE
force and rapidity. The fisherman was
pulled overheard from the very midst of
his Mortified mates and disappeared be-
meath the waves. They made frantic
efforts to recover the line, and finally
succeeded. They brought UP thous-
and pound sword fish, but the body of
their mate had disappeared forever.
A number of years ago curious Incl
dent came to the attention of Captain
Ben Willard and Captain Haskell, the
latter now of the Ben-Hur. Two Monhe-
gan fishermen were hunting sword
fish from dory. They struck large
one, which at once responded by
darling at the dory. The fish went under
it, and rushing up witt great velocity,
drove his long sword completely through
the bottom. One of the fishermen was
sitting on the seat just over the place
where the sword came through. Before
he could move the long bony blade came
through the seat, tore through the seat
of his trousers and drove up his back be-
tween his skin and his skirt. The fish
erman was not in the least hurt; but
more astounded man never set foot on
Monhegan. The fishermen lost no time
in getting to land in their leaking dory;
where their story was received with won
der.