The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-08-06

sPoRr cAToHIS0 THE sW0RDFIsH
ron NEW ENGLAND MARHETs.
Nav York Hasn't Tot Discovered Thst This
Ffsh IL . Choice MorseI, But Down East
There IL q Largo Demand for 1t.

twice and thrice a week sped a little
flock OF smacks and sailboats, bending
eastward. making for the swordfsh
grounds in the ocean far beyond Block
Island. From the walled-in little basin"
within the granite breakwater at New
Shoreham village. on the lonely island.
sails as often another feet Of doughty
and eager swordhshermen. Swordfsh are
very plentiful. and the world has lately
learned tn prize their flesh. There is
none In fhe chase OF that solitary
prowler Of the sea who wears his sabre
In his snout. 1t Is fifteen or twenty
miles southeast Of Block Island. on the
hither edge OF the Gulf Streem, that the
fishermen go 10 DO battle with the sword
fish. Ii Is not difficult to ind him. Tie
is always coasting there unwearfedly.
back and forth In the tepid waters OF
the great stream, hunting nil sorts OF
Gsh IN shoals, and even water fowl. st
times. all Of which he rips to pieces with
his sword exactly as a woodsman deals
s~lanting blows with his axe and a trooper
with his sabre. All living things that
swim are grist to his mill. He is afraid
OF none. He carries his black colers
aioft with the boidness OF any pirate
his black fin, which Sits the surface OF
the ocean as he glides along as the
coulter OF a pillow cuts the greensward.
But II Is not by any means a life alto
gether OF esss and inactivity cruising for
swordnsh. The great game ish are plen-
tiful. indeed. and when the sport IS on
there is stress o, work and thrilling al
venture than which there IL none moro
intense, more trying, more intrepid, not
even that OF hunting the great whale
OF sending pilots in a storm TO incoming
liners. These rough and ready, bare
armed. resolute, ~sun-tanned. marine
rodnen cruise not for sport in the first
place, but for spells and ready lucre'
and every palpitating. armed leviathan
they heave aboard their vessel means
TO them so many pounds OF swordiish
cut up into so many steaks at 8 to ~
cents a pound. The dollar mark is tagged
10 every fish.
Almost every one knows how sword
fish are taken, and that II is arduous
and perilsome, but desperately f%ascinat-
inr work to take them. Almost every
one knows that far out on the bowsprit
OF every sword fisherman there is n
little open i~ron-banded "pIlpit," where
the karpooner, harpoon In hand, as his
craft rides up to the side OF his fearless
game. which scorns 10 flee or turn aside
from any foe that assails him; that the
barpoon Is hurled into his side or that
then the monster, furious with pain and
rage, bounds away, with a floating keS
attached TO the iron dart by fathoms
OF rope, or plunges into the northern
most course Of the ocean. The vessel
sails after him. like a ~tireless hound on
the trail Of a fox and the marine hunters
have only TO keep sight Of him until he
has exhausted himself with his mad
PUSHES through the seas. When the
time comes, howeyer,-it may be In half
an hour, or II may be after twice
that time-for the plucky spearsman to
deal the finishing stroke to the doughty
warrior. then, II ever, hunter and game
meet on fairly even terms in a valiant
tug-o'-war.
The harpooner quits the vessel in n
yavl, and with axe, or club, or spear,
PULLS his frail craft over the rough waves
to the side of the dying fish. 1t may
be the moribund giant is brcathless and
really exhausted, and. II so. the har-
poorer has only to draw up where he
has measured his bulky length upon the
surface of the ocean, plunge his sharp
spear into his heart or brain, or deal a
crushing blow upon his head. But II
the big fellow IL only f~einting, there IS
likely to be trouble. Sulkily and warily,
but motionlass, he notes the h~arpooner's
advance. and when the latter has driven
his boat TO a point not half a dozen
rods away. all Of a sudden the great
fish nrouses himself, shakes the letharsy
out Of his frame and the brine out OF
his gllmmering eyes, measures the place
Of his foe for an instant, then rushes
upon him like a whirlwind. Rarely ever
does he miss his dive. and the
dauntless warrior, with swift and sinewy
skill and nervous sweep OF paddles, Is
impotent to evede II. The fish cleaves
the waves with the speed and fury OF a
war horse. a sudden dip beneath the
waves. lol he has gone; but the next
instant the oarsman. leaping into the
stern Of his craft, hears a 6reat rush OF
waters, as OF a submarine volcano be-
meath him. and with the sound Of rip
pins boat timbers, that part with the
fragility OF paper. a long, slender, brown
black. hairy napier Is driven through
the cookie shell from side TO side as II
the lance Of a galioping Cossack had
cleft It. Lucky It IL, indeed. for the
boatman that he, too, may not be in line
with the Irresistible straight thrust, for
II he is so the sharp slender bone sabre
will split him also. as swiftly and easily
as n cook skewors O chicken. Instances
are not wanting in which n boatman has
had both his legs speared through by
the sword OF a furious sworihsh md him
self firmly impaled 10 the sides Of his
yawl. One Block Islander was cleft IN
that way only last summer on Block
Island Sound, and a year or two ago an
other hunter OF the marine swordnsh
was spitted in his seat, the bone blade
going up into his body. and he died a
few days later OF the frishtful thrust.
A day or two ago the Sun had a story
Of a harpooncr on the Matte and Lena
schooner from Stonington, whose boat
vas cleft by n swordhsh's a'ea<on which
went through both its sides. and the
thrust barely missed h~ansnxlng the
sailor. Such accidents are not uncom-
mon; the great worder Is, such is the
Nrathful fury of the swordhsh at the
fearless temerity Of the hunters. that
more men are not MANNED or slain each
season In this most perilous modern
81 ort Of the Atldrtic seaboard. Indeed.
a wounded swOrdhsh not rarely attacks
the schoona r itself. and only 4 few sea-
sons ago one big fellow drove headlong
into an island vessel, and his a bre went
through its thick walls as II they were
Of paper, protruding by several inches
into the vessels cabin, when the giant
IN his furious wrenching 10 free himself,
broke the end of the blade, which fell
on the floor.
1t has been only within the past three
OF four years that men began 10 hunt
the big, ugly chaps for n steady and
profitable vocation. Before that time
the world fancied that the flesh OF sword
fish was UNIT for food and fhs A.l,p,to |