The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-03-20
OCEAN SWORDSMEN.
TALES OF THE FIERCE FISH FOUND
OFF THE PACIFIC COAST.


The passengers on tho littlo steamer TINT
makes daily trips between San Pedro har-
Dor, near Los Angeles, and Santa Catalinn
island, some 30 miles out in tho Pacific
ocean. were excited one day recently by n
terrific baltic between two seq monstors.
The spectacle from tho dock of the steam.
er, about u mile away from the scene of
tho combat, was small mountain Of mist
tossing in tho air, mt tho base of which n
hugo black tail churned tho water like tn
blades Of u screw propeller. The monster
"a good sized whale-turned this WAY
end that all tho time flashing its black
tail with fury and beating tho water So
that the sound was easily heard by every
ono on board tho Catalina island boat
The whale suddenly turned, and, spoutin,
powerful stream of water, ceased lash
ing the water with its tail and sunk belov
the surface.
Several of tho witnesses of tho scene ha,
had long experience on whaling voyages.
They said tho battle was betwoon a
swordflsh and fcmalc whale Tho sword
fish had the advantage of the great sea
mammal and was thrusting its only weap-
on Of attack and defensc-the long, sharp
and pointed sword-into tho vulnerable
sides of the unwicldy whale. The great
mammal could but thrash its tail about
in impotent rage until mt last vital spot
was reached by the attacking swordflsh,
and tho whale was vanquished.
n dozen or more old mon who sit about
the docks and the custom houses ut San
Pedro and San Diego after a long career
in the whaling fields of tho Pacific ocean
say that the battle between tho whale and
swordflsh was not uncommon. Several of
the old tars say they have witnessed lust
rs good fights between similar com batants,
and, besides, that in nearly every case tho
swordfish is tho attacking party. Many
men who have been on whaling voyapcs
have found wounds in tho carcassos of
whales that were undoubtedly left there
by an angry swordhsh 1t is seldom. how
ever, that "a swordfish is able to stab the
whale to death.
The swordiish is utterly without fear
and will, like a buffalo or rhinoccros
charge anything that offcndS K, often do
ing an amount of execution hardly to he
believed did not the evidence exist Com
bats between sworGfis! arc mes: interest
ing and may be compared to duel be.
tween two expert sw0rdsmcn. .Such : con
test was observed off the long pier that OK
tends out into the ocean M; Santa Monica
near Los Angeles, last year Some fisher
the water and dashing along tho surface
Soon it was seen that they were swordlish
The season was when the fish arc unusual
ly fcrocious They had made several
PUSHES, and when observed were at close
quarters, striking each other powerful side
blows like cavalrymcn. This was unsatis-
factory, and finally they separated and
darted at each other like arrows, tho water
kissing rs their sharp dOrsal fins cut
through it. They evidently struck head
on, one missing, while tho sword of tho
other struck just below the eye and plowCd
deep furrow in the fish, partly disabling
1t so that 1t turned and attempted to es
cape. But its adversary also turned, and
with rush drove its sword completely
through the body OF its foe and held it
fast, only wrenching its weapon loose
when Its enemy stopped swimming.
This ono lunge finished the battle, and
tho victor left the field The vanquished,
floating on the surface, was picked up by
the fishermen. The wounds in tho dead
fish were examined by several hundred
people in Los Angeles and Santa Monica.
They gave ample evidence of the extraor-
binary ferocity of thrust by swordflsh
The force with which n swordfsh strikes
has been variously estimated, but that it
shot from howitzcr will be believed east
ly after viewing the results.
In the waters of California three kinds
of swordfsh can be seen-Xiphius glad
Jus, Tctrapturus a,bidus and Histopho-
rus. Tho fish engaged in the battle de-
scribed was of tho kind first named 1t
is tho ordinary sword1sh found on both
sides of the Atlantic, in appearance trim
and shipshape, u veritnble privnteer 1t
is piratical cousin of the mackercl. Tho
striking feature is the sword, which is q
continuation of the upper jaw into sharp,
bony sword The jaws are toothless, the
lower one being hard or bony. The eyes
are large and prominent, the tail sickle
shaped and powerful, and the whole up
pearanco Of the fish denotes speed and ac-
tivity.
1t attains a length of from five to nine
feet, and when working at full speed can
pierco wooden hull sheathed with cop
per. One of the most remarkable cases on
record Is that of the ship Dreadnought.
One day ut sea the crew felt n sudden
shock, and soon after that the ship spreng
q leak and was obliged to put into port.
1t was found when she was drydocked that
large swordfsh had struck her. The
sword had penetrated the copper, then the
ohioH oah num- passing through inc CnlOk
pine sheathing and finally entering tho
head OF barrel. The sword was broken
OF short, partly plugging the wound
The ship Wanderer was struck in tho
south Atlantic in the Same way, and the
pumps had to be manned When sho was
locked, the terrible sword was found. The
United States government has recently
collected testimony relating to such cases,
and it makes u most interesting showing.
hundreds of instances have been brough:
to light whore swordilsh have struck YES
sells with disastrous results, ono case cited
being the sinking of the sloop Red Hot,
which was employed around Now Bedford
by tho United StntcS Eish cnmnany Tho