The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1922-03-02

ness and make beautiful ornament.
For awhile we caught no fish, and
our skipper said we were on good
ground and he sought the reason
for our failure and discovered a very
large hammerhead shark trailing us
after the fish We had tied to a line
trailing in the water back of the
boat We soon had the shark line
out with fish on the hook for bait
and watched Mr.. Shark come up and
take it and after giving him time to
swallow it we'll, three is us heaved to
on the other end of the line and IL
was all we could do to hold on with
out being pulled overheard, but we
finally got him near enough to shoot
him, when we added him to our
string at the back of the boat. he
was estimated to weigh one tnous-
and pounds, and was about II 1eet
long. This ended our days sport,
and we wer glad to go in as we were
tired and the sea was getting too
rough from the storm which was
approaching.
For the next two days we were
not able to to go out on the banks
on account of the severe storm so we
had fun around the islands of Bimi-
nj seeing the natives climb cocoanut
tree like monkeys and dive for small
coins. During this time we went
fishing for bone fish in the shallow
protected bay, the waters of which
are as clear as a crystal, and the fish
are easily seen. The bone fish range
in size from 2 to 5 pounds and are
very game. They feed in the shallow
water and root like hogs, usually
with back fin sticking out which you
watch for, it shines like mother OF
pearl above the water. Another in
dication of their presence is the
white coral mud they stir up in the
water with their nose. The are call
ed bone fish for the reason that they
have three bones in their threat, with
which they crush their food. We saw
the natives catch a hundred of them
with a net right in front of the hotel.
sThere are few native whites on
Bimini called Conks for the reason
that they subsist mainly on the conk
which they remove from the shell
by breaking the big spiral end with
a hammer when the meat can be re-
moved. The conk are in abundance
and are gathered somewhat like
clans on Long Island except they are
not so plentiful, and glass bottomed
bucket is used to espy them on the
bottom. The human "Conk" is a
very sorry looking specimen of white
man, while the shells he gathers are
most colorful and beautiful.
ION the fourth day the sea had
calmed and we went to Gun Key
and on the way caught some barracuda
and two large mutton fish, weighing
between thirty and forty pounds, red
in color, very pretty to look at, a
large grouper weighing 40 pounds
like Joseph with coat of many col
ors. To me came the prize of the
day, a hundred pound amber jack,
which furnished real excitement for
almost an hour, until I was almost
exhausted, but I successfully landed
him on board by the aid of the cap
tain with the gaff hook. Also got
another very lively one weighing so
pounds later in the day. Mr.. Hawkes.
caught five big sail fish, $50 called
because he has a very large I'm on
his back when raised looks like the
sail on a Chinest Junk and when low
cred fit into sort of groove in the
fish's back). The sail fish furnished
much sport. We were able to watch
him for some time following US. He
has a long upper jaw, like sword
fish, with which he strikes the balt'
which is his method of killing prey.
He then comes up and swallows it
Git is very necessary to give him
plenty of line at this moment so that
the hook will go below his very bony
jaws) then you will have to land the
hook when you await developments,
hoping that your line will hold and
that it is long enough to permit his
long dashes to get away. The first
thing he does is to go into the air
about 20 feet and then make OF
while your line sings, as there is no
stopping until he is tired.
ION the fifth day, we went up to
see the lighthouse keeper at Great
Isaacs where sea plane was rescued
recently. The keeper, who is a very