Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-12-24
SXORDRISH AGAINST WHALE.


The Whale Whipped BY It's Fiery Antago-
misunderstanding About the swordflsh
OF the Pacific Gee an.
The passengers on the little steamer
that makes daily trips between San Pc
dro Harbor, near Los Angeles, CAL, and
Santa CatalIne Island, some thirty
miles out In the Pacific Ocean, were
excited the other day by a terrible bat
| tie between two sea monsters. A N.
Y. Times correspondent says that the
spectacle from the deck OF the steamer,
about q mile away from the scene Of
the combat, was small mountain or
mist tossing In the air, at the base OF
which a huge black tail churned the
| water like the blades OF screw pro-
peller. The monster, a very large-sized
| whale, turned this way and that, all
| the time lashing its black tail with fury
and beating the water so that the sound
came like claps of thunder to every one
on board the Catalina Island steamer.
The whale suddenly turned and spout
ing a powerful stream Of water and
| blood some twenty feet in the air,
dashed the water with several powerful
| Hops of the tail, and sank beneath the
| surface of the ocean.
The little steamer made for the scene
| Of the battle with all speed, and every
| one of the passengers was terribly ex-
| cited at the scene, but when the boat
reached the spot where the great whale
was last seen nothing but foaming
water, Redeemed with blood, marked
the locality. There were several old
| time Sailors on board the steamer, and
| they all agreed that battle unto death
| between a swordfish and female
| whale had been fought before their
eyes. The swordfish had the advan-
| tage OF the great sea mammal, and was
tllrusting its only weapon Of attack and
| defense-the long, sharp and pointed
sword-into the vulnerable sides Of the
unwieldy whale. The great mammal
could but thrash its tail about In impO-
tent rage, until at last vital spot was
reached by the attacking swordfish,
and the whale was vanquished.
A dozen or more old men who sit
at San Pedro, after long career in the
whaling fields OF the Pacific Ocean, say
that the battle between the whale and
the swOrdfish was not uncommon. Sew
eral Of the old tars say they have wit
messed just as good fights between
similar combatants, and besides, that
In nearly every case the swordfish Is
h. a..&xv vlafs
have been on whaling voyages have
found wounds in the carcasses Of
whales that were undoubtedly left
there by an angry swordfish. 1t Is
seldom, however that n swordfish is
able to stab the whale TO death.
The swordfish is utterly without fear,
and will, like n buffalo or rhinoceros,
charge anything that offends 1t, often
| doing an amount of execution hardly to
| be believed did not the evidence exist.
| Combats between swordfish are most
Interesting. and may be compared to
| duel between two expert swordsmen.
Such contest was observed off the
long pier that extends out into the
ocean at Santa Monica, near Los An
gcles. Some fishermen noticed two big
fish leaping out of the water and dash
ing along the surface. Soon Ii was
seen that they were swordfish. The
season was when the fish were usually
ferocious. They had made several
rushes, and when observed were at
close quarters, striking each other
powerful side blows like cavalrymen.
| This was unsatisfactory, and finally
| they separated and darted ut each other
like arrows, the water kissing as their
sharp dorsal fins cut through it,. They
evidently struck head on, one missing,
while the sword of the other struck jus:
below the eye and plowed a deep fur
row In the fish, partly disabling 1t so
that it turned and attempted to escape.
Put It's adversary also turned, and with
rush drove its sword completely
through the body Of its foe and held 1t
| fast, only wrenching its weapon loose
| when its enemy stopped swimming:
This one lunge finished the battle.
and the victor left the field. The van
| quished, floating on the surface, was
| picked up by the fishermen. The
wounds in the dead fish were examined
by several hundred people in Los An
gcles and Santa Monica. They gave
| ample evidence of the extraordinary
ferocity Of thrust by n swordfish.
| The force with which a swordfis!
strikes has been variously estimated.
| but that 1t Is equal to that which drives
n twenty-four pound shot from how
| itzer will be believed easily after view
ing the result.
In the waters of California three
kinds of swordfish can be seen-Xiphius
| gladius. Tetrapturus albidus, and His
tophorus. The fish engaged in the bat
| tie described were OF the kind first
named. 1t Is the ordinary swordfish,
found on both sides Of the Atlantic, in
appearance trim and shipshape-a veri-
table privateer. 1t is piratical cousin
| of the mackerel.
The striking feature is the sword,
| which Is a continuation OF the upper
| jaw into sharp bony sword. The
Jaws are toothless, the lower one being
hard or bony. The eyes are large anil
| prominent, the tail sickle-shaped and
powerful, and the whole appearance
| Of the fish denotes speed and activity.
1t attains length Of from five to nine
| feet, and when working at full speed
| can pierce wooded hull sheathed with
copper. One of the most remarkable