The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1895-08-31
RIPPED BY 4 swoRDrlsH.


ance with a huge swordfish In the
waters off Cox's ledge, at the southeast
end of the island Mackerel were rum
ming lively and the Ccntennials crew
had done great days work harvest
| ing plump. striped beauties by the acre
with its mammoth one thousand dollar
hove to, with her big seine boat, bear
ing the net. attached to the schooner
and running free astern. The tired
sailors slept sonndly. None heard any
unusual uproar in the night, not evsn
tho bow Waterman, peering dead
ahead through sea mists. Atdaylight,
however, he noted that the heavy
seine boat had been capsized. and that
Il lurched weightily on its thick tow
! ing line. He piped all hands on deck.
| Great was the regret and concern Of
all. for the valuable seine, the main
stay OF their industry, had gone over
board and evidently was lost. Gloom
| lily, but quickly, the sailors righted the
boat and then they discovered that
swordfish had charged the boat and had
driven his serrated saber plumb through
its stout side So terrific, indeed, had
been his onset, that, apparently, he
had flung the boat squarely out of the
sea, twirling IL in the air, like shut
tlecock, and II had come down bottom
up and was partly submerged. The
bottom of the boat is of solid planking,
but the swordfish had driven password
through 1t as easily, IL seemed, as II IL
had been OF paper. But after he had
delivered the thrust the fish had been
unable TO withdraw his blade; hence
with a mighty wrench he had shaken
himself free from the craft, but his
sword was broken. The point, solidly
fixed in plank and sheathing, pro-
truded more than six inches above the
bottom of the craft. The Centennial
crew, of course, had no idea they
would ever set their eyes on the lost
seine again, yet not more than thirty
minutes later the schooner Spectator,
which had been fishing on the same
grounds the previous day, hailed them,
saying they had just picked up the
| Centenniaps net It was so badly torn,
however, having been sliced in score
of places by the swordfsh's Jagged
blade, that the Centennial fishermen
started for Gloucester to have it re-
paired.
In the past five seasons two fisher
men of Block island waters have been
mortaliy injured, and half dozen
others severely hurt, by wounded
swordfish, whose blades were driven
through their cookie shells with the
speed of rife shot. In one instance
the sword went through the bottom of
the boat-the crew did not even know
that the monster was approaching
them-slid through its middle seat of
plank as easily as IL IL was paste board
and buried more than two feet in the
body of an unhappy seaman. The man
survived his frightful wound for only a
few hours.
In two other instances in Block
island waters swordfish have even at
tackled fishing schooners and smacks,
and driven their sabers straight
through planking three inches thick,
the sword each time sharply broken,
and the fragments remained so tightly
Embedded in the opening it had made
that no water leaked into the vessel.
The swordfish season in these waters
has been n wonderfully fine one. Big
fellows have been harpooned in the
past month in waters not more than
ten or fifteen miles to the eastward of
the island, though the greatest fishing
is done along the margin of the gulf
stream, thirty to forty miles southeast
of here. In fact. swordfishing, thrill
ing and dangerous sport though IL Is,
is prime diversion of visitors TO Block
island. There are not fewer than a
dozen regular swordfshing boats here,
whose owners earn n good living, and
besides the sailing craft the trim steam
yacht Ocean View cruises all the time
on the swordfish grounds A dozen
more active swordfishmen hail from
Rhode Island and Connecticut seaports,
notably little feet from Stonington
and Noanlx hamlet
II the swordfsherman five years ago
bagged three to five of the big fellows
on single cruise. every one along the
shore reclxoned the achievement to be
wondrously ''arnart." Not many days
ago the steamer Ethel, Capt. Latham.
of Noank, ran home from the grounds
with eighteen swordfish on the decks
and several of them weighed from
three to four hundred pounds each.
The biggest one weighed four hundred
and fifteen pounds One day on that
trip Capt Latham landed just thi rtecn
fish.
On recent trip part of the Block
island feet had remarkably fine luck,
and their catches were all taken in
waters no moro distant from their
homes than those of No Mans Land
: and South Shoal lightship. about
thirty-hve miles south of Gay Head
Martha's Vineyard. They came into
port in this order: Earl and Nettie,
fifteen swordfish, taken In two days
! Edward II. Smead. fifteen in two days
w. Talbot Dodge, seventeen in 1--WE
} days.
But the biggest catch Of the season,
probably the greatest one ever taken
by vessel, was made by the Noanli
/ II - -