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NOVA SCOTIA SWORDFISHING Harpooning Sea Monsters in North ¬ ern Canada Waters Sport Foil of Grrat Perils and andCalls Calls for illicit Courage and andAlert Alert Skill It was a time of vivid life along the waterside The bright sun of an early August Saturday after ¬ noon blazed on an unaccustomed scene of industry Graceful black boats banded with yellow edg against the wharves in ones and twos and threes Terrific hammering was going on and the forest of masts swarmed with men swung from taykle hammer or paintpot in hand Grave conclaves of sweatered fishermen compared bits of wood and bent iron and looked appraisingly aloft and ther was much talk of floats and crosstrees chairs and harpoons harpoonsCause Cause Nova Scotia was making ready for the fall hunting season seasonDown Down under the edge of the wharf it was lo tide tlie Petawawa the largest boat of the flee was receiving her finishing touches The deck had been cleared of litter of outfit the skipper lounged lazily before the wheel that it was a wheel and not a tiller proved the dignity of the boat languidly dabbing at it with a drab paint ¬ brush An old man too ancient for the frivolity of mere sport was endlessly dipping a pail over the side and emptying it into tiny holes in the head of a row of small casks along the deck which when airtight would serve as floats The crowl that wasnt busy with heels kicking indolontJy over the edge of the wharf was thrown down tit ¬ bits of raillery at him himAll All work was sport to them just then greatest fun of the year the season which was to turn men existence into real life and which they entered upon with an enthusiasm uncommon to their na ¬ tures was about to begin The swordfish wer coming Someone up on the western had brought in two the Halifax papers said This meant that the fish would be along the eastern in a day dayor or two And tlien On Monday they wouW wouWsweep sweep merrily out of the harbor to hunt the big game of the sea the swordfish swordfishUp Up against the sky reared a horde of straight lines their tops intersected by other shorter lines The crosstress were in place two and often three to a mainmast the weather determining whic1 might be used by the lookout men In the pitching tit the next week or two the lookout who riske the upper crosstrees was inviting destruction for himself and the l oat Even wire rope stays hnvc their limits limitsOne One of the hard and fast rules of the codfishor niaii is rest on Sunday To be sure the 1etawawi put out with a gay party across the straits for Petit lu Grat but there was nothing resembling work in that And on Monday morning early the migration began Icst of the Iwats crews had gone to sleep on Sunday night under the conviction that the chances were quite as good immediately off shore or at most on a short run eastward r Uover Hut the reports on the western were tro much for them Before daylight on Monday morn ing the whole fleet started eagerly for the western where they knew the swordfish to be The tale of an American swordfisherman that had drifted into harbor on Sunday night its bowsprit longer than many a local mast its crosstrees looking snobbishly over the highest peak in the harbor brought reflections Eight swordfish on the west ¬ ern Then the western it must be beIN IN BONNIE B TO ISLANDS ISLANDSThat That was why in sullen disappointment I kicked my heels against a mooring post on Monday morning and thought harsh things of the vacillation of co1 fisherman in general generalThe The only relief that day was a run to the onte islands on the Bonnie 15 for the additional ballast necessary to steady the boat for swordfishing On Tuesday unexpectedly I broke into the game gameTwo Two of the officers in charge of the troops pro ¬ tecting the cables put off from Dover Wharf for the outside lighthouse No one was thinking of ri jj v ii Uie owner of the boat But we had scarcely struck the open when one of th crow gave a half smothered exclamation and darted for the bow In an instant he had seized a har ¬ poon without attention to the course of its rope attachment to the float and had driven it into ti water from the deck There was the hiss of a rushing rope and suddenly a cask close beside one of the officers shot a score of feet into the air and dropped with a splash over the side sideThe The boy in his hurry had not noticed that the rope from the harpoon to the float was foul of ilsc stays When the wounded swordfish departed like an express train it jerked the float up over the stays with the speed of a bullet Anyone foul ol that rope would have gone with it Fortunately i fl w fret without biking our rigging As sword fishing and military hities are not congenial thf former had to wait until our return when we piclo1 up the float and at the end of it a swordfish to fatigued to struggle The harpoon had merely pene ¬ trated a fin and the jvoint had come loose on itlHT side when it dangled at the end of the rop That night the boats trailed into Canso froia the western only three of them with a catch to report and their success had been along their own coast Thereafter the waters outside Canso were good enough Next day the tussle would begin in earnest earnestOverhead Overhead it was an ideal day for swordfishing a brilliant hot sun that always acts as a soporife for the big fish bringing it to the surface where it rests in dozing enjoyment of the heat the point f me black fin just cutting the surface Not only m the fish less on the top on dark days but they arc more difficult to see The two men in the crosslrees are trained hands who can spot swordfish from the peculiar indistinct slick which they learn to connect with it Sometimes the more definite slick of a school of herring act as a guide for the swordfish is frequently foun close by lazily cutting up his meal mealWe We were short handed Usually the crew consists of five the skipper and his mate at the tiller anu in the chair two men in the crosstrees and one standing free to throw overboard the float whei i strike is made madeBut But today as I said we were short handed A run of bad luck with the cod made the crew reluctant to risk every tiling in the chase of the sword fisi and three men had been dropped overlward in dorie to trawl while the skipper mate and myself ran away off westward in pursuit of the fleet of swor fishermen we could see darting about in that di ¬ rection As we drew nearer the attitude of the mtij in the chairs told us the chase was on and with aii the power of our engine and sails we tore alon U join them As much as my binoculars could briiur l me my crew had already picked up with the naked y for they could read every movement of thi Inials Hawos sees one shouted the skipper And in a moment Franks getting readj readjKEEN KEEN SPORT IN HOUGH WATER WATERI I steadied myself in the heaving roll by winding myself around a stay The sun was blazing down with the furious insistence of an early August day and my widebrimmed hat was discounted by the dazzling reflection from the water The bow of our craft tossed madly toward the sky and cut off everything ahead then it dropped in a sickening manner straight into the waistline of an oncoming wave Out in the chair however the mate rested carelessly on the iron railing and every now and then a wave slapped his feet It was daredevil recklessness to me meThe The skipper an Irishman who must have brought his own roots and soil with him when transplanted had just delivered himself of a bit of local colcr about a man who didnt zackly stutter he sort o hung fire when the mate shouted I never heard the end of the story With one hand on the rope and the other on the tiller the skipper swniig the boat off to port in answer to the mates point ¬ ing hand and diagonally across the waves we made straight into the teeth of another boat bearing madly down upon us its lookout men waving fran ¬ tically toxvard a tiny black spot ahead that rose and disappeared in the swell The other boat reached it first and the harpoon sank swiftly But it went to the full length of the harpoonmans arm and came back with the spear still in place He had missed A jeering laugh broke from our skip ¬ pers lips as he swung sharply off to avoid m imminent bowsprit bowspritAnd And then the struggle began Round and round the two boats tore rushing straight into each others faces until one yielded ami swung away Handi ¬ capped as we were b3 having no lookout men we pursued the chase under a disadvantage our har ¬ poon man catching only fleeting glimpses of the thin black fin above the waves Disgusted hr scrambled back over the bowsprit from the chair leaving his harpoon losely fastened and pulled himself aloft the crosstrees The difference was immediately apparent but what we could do without a harpoon man was beyond my imagination imaginationThe The half hour that followed was fuller of hair raising jockeying and twisting and curveting and twinging than I ever thought two boats could In dulge in So far as I could see there were no laws of navigation there only a sheer daring and reck ¬ lessness The capture of that fish meant more than a mere fifteen dollars it meant success and the defeat of a rival We had the advantage of power and could turn more quickly and point np cloaer into the wind and we certainly bluffed them oftener than they did us But the way they lump out ahead of us until our chair actually clicked on theirs our sides rubbed once as we both swuis ovcr xvas sheer deliberate madness to me I wanted to say harsh things to that soberfaceJ skipper who alternately glanced at his lookouts and at our bowsprit And yet everyone seemed tj take it so coolly that I began to think it was a putup game on me the tenderfoot Once after I had wondered swiftly where was the best place to jump I looked angrily back at our skipper and received a solemn wink winkNow Now and then a black fin poked through the water always to the side and the two of us are toward it From aloft the mate hurled down Off a little Bring her round Steady And the til ¬ ler responded instantly As we crept nearer the fish a motion of the lookouts arm was sufficient sufficientI I was standing in the bow frantically hanging to a wire stay wondering how long a stovein fishing Iwat would float when a rushing whizz swept over my head and something flashed past me That blamed fool boat must have come riuht on board us I thought But it was only the mite In that awful sea he had slid from the crosstrcc down a tiny wire jibstay to the end of the bow ¬ sprit and was already standing with harponn poised poisedHARPOON HARPOON HOME AND FISH GOING GOINGThe The other boat saw him and shouted to disturb his aim but the man who could take that jibsta was not to be rattled by a shout The har ¬ poon went home I happened to recollect my duty and leaped to the float just in time to have it torn from my hand straight out of sight beneath the water That swordfish was already down thirty fathoms I turned and made faces at the other boat which had a full crew of five men menIn In the days that followed I was able to yield to the excitement to laugh tauntingly as we forced a rival to give way and even to encourage the skip ¬ per to persist to the edge of safety The usually phlegmatic fisherman quite loses himself in the contest Oaths fly backward and forward the vonngest member of the crew freely expresses his opinion of the skipper when the fish is missed and th6 lookout men up there where every move ¬ ment is so sensitively felt shower everyone promis cuouslv with curses It is all part of swordfishing ill the delirium of the moment only the little black prong above the water is noticed or the black bulk as the boat rushes helplessly past pastOne One day four of us were in chase of a big fol lowe estimated by the skipper at 800 pounds a maddening impudent fish that scorned unnecessary movement to escape At the first call the derk liand was on deck a scarcely touched cup of tea in his hand and all through the excitement lie rushed from side to side carefully balancing that tin nn As the fish sank languidly time after time his oaths rolled louder and louder at fish at harpooumsin at skipper and his free fist shook as lie danced up and down scarcely spilling a drop Then the fish tried a new plan Instead of sinking as thr boat approached it flicked its tail lazily and there it lay on tho surface only a yard or two beyond the harpoon As we ton past the excited deck hand suddenly raised his cup and hurled it viciously out It struck the astonished fisli on the side with a re ¬ sounding smack and the big fellow darteU out of sight sightIve Ive got it Ive got it yelled the marksman rushing furiously about the deck deckAt At first the crew had yelled exultation almost is if the harpoon had sunk home and then as we came about a sheepish smile broke on every face The fish was nowhere to be seen Put out the dory yelled the skipper sarcastically Daves got fim fimThere There are dangers in swordfishing that crop up infrequently to remind man of the power of the thing lie hunts The sword for instance is a formidable weapon as capable of puncturing a boat as of cutting up a school of herring Not often does the swordfish turn but when he does forget the tearing agony in his back and make for its source everything is helpless before him himWe We had speared our teutb fish that day The deck was slimy with gore and the hold was over flowing with blackbacked whitebellied fish that in life could have carved our boat into mincemeat The crew was jubilant at the thought of a ton and a half of fish to hand over at two and a half cents a pound On our line was another big fellow and we followed the rushing float content with our days catch Presently we came up with oiu quarry resting quietly on the water and the dory was put off For another half hour the fish fourht now rushing out the line until the float had to lit dropped overboard and again yielding tamely until only a few fathoms of rope remained in the water waterWe We were sailing up and down awaiting the em1 when a sudden shout of alarm directed every ey to the dory There the two men were clinging tc the sides and yelling wildly for help Dimly I couli see a thin gray line protruding from the middle of the dory and on it the fisherman terrorstrickfi eyes were fixed while the dory swayed and surgci as if in the grip of a giant Abrupt quiet cam but the gray line remained When we came up two frightened men clambered hastily aboard That gray thing between them coming clean through the Iwittoni of the boat was the sword of a swordfish The skipper seized it and it cuiiu loose in his hand and immediately the dory began to take water fast The sword in the fishs dying struggle had broken off close to the snout snoutThey They told me of two men who had been severely wounded in such a manner and of a fisherman who was forced to dive beneath the dory and knife the fish to save the lives of himself and his mate mateAnd And there are other dangers dangers of the deep peculiar to swordfishing The lookout men in their excitement sometimes forget to keep firm hold au the harpoonman is never free from the menace of his position On a tiny bit of board narrower than the length of his foot with a railing around three sides of him coming only to his thighs he must stand perhaps for hours soaring up and down with the swells sometimes half buried beneath the waves and always dependent upon the untrustworthy grip of bowspritOne his small platform on a smaller bowsprit One rough day we were almost the only boat out In the piling waves there was little hope for sword fish but we hung on One after the other three of the crew had come in from the chair wet to the skin every wave curled up above their knees before the boat bore them aloft and it was getting worse We had turned for home when the lookout reported a swordfish almost straight ahead As we were running nearer the shore the waves tore threaten ¬ ingly at the chair one finally curling completely over the occupant But he stuck there without a word harioon in hand leaning heavily on the rail ¬ ing to give himself a hold and shaking himself every now and then to throw off the loose water waterFISHERMANS FISHERMANS NARROW ESCAPE ESCAPESuddenly Suddenly as every eye was searching ahead for the swordfish there came a splitting crash Chair and man had disappeared from the end of the bow ¬ sprit not a sound coming from the doomed hnrpoon man as lie swung over A sailor with one tremen ¬ dous heave threw loose a dory and the others raced to the one on the other side Even as the skipper swung off to protect the launching however a strange gasping rumbling roar came over the bow bowKeep Keep her steady blow you Keep her steady And up beside the bowsprit came a dripping figure the harpoonman harpoonmanHis His escape was a miracle but simply explained The chair had not broken loose but had turned over 011 the rounded bowsprit The harpoonman at the first crack dropped his harpoon and clung to the railing Those few seconds as he hung head downward beneath the roaring waves he did not like to talk about But when he had righted himself by the help of the wire stays his only danger was the dash of the waves and the weak ¬ ness of the splintered bowsprit bowspritThey They laughed about it did those men of the sea with a wavering little thrill in their merriment not to be misunderstood We were content to leave the dory to a boat following behind behindAs As August advanced the swordfish worked oast ward along the south coast of Cape Breton There had been a weak of tremendous fishing a glorious time of profit and sport In two days each mem ¬ ber of the crew had earned a hundred and twenty dollars and they were flushed with success They did not worry because that hundred and twenty dollars might have been five hundred dollars a few days west toward Boston but they could not help wondering occasionally what they would have done with so much money moneyWe We were running alone off LArdoise far ahead of the other boats when something big and black rose languidly to the surface close by The look ¬ out men shouted something and swung about and headed toward this new fish too large for a swordfish too small for a whale Blackfish announced the harpoonman and we bore rapidly down on it itCarefully Carefully the skipper ran alongside it would have been like running on an island to have struck the creature for it was almost as long as the boat The harpoon sank deep into its side and we sheered swiftly away to get beyond its struggles But the big fish no more than wallowed away The crew were wild with excitement for a blackfish had never been brought in and Vere were wild stories of its value la the wallning the rope snapped like thread Two more harpoons went into it and then after a pause three others the last we had But the fish scarcely seemed to mind Then mindThen the event lost some of its sport Around us there suddenl appeared five other huge black fish We had the floats still aboard for a dory would have been able to do nothing with such a fish but we saw to it that the ropes were clear in case of a sudden decision on the part of the fish to leave us Without seeming effort the big fellow towed us for miles then we pulled up alongside and attempted to finish our work with a knife tied to a harpoon Every few seconds the boat trembled as it bumped into one of the wounded ones mates and we began to long for the return of our spear points It was like trying to kill an elephant with u pin and we couldnt get loose without sacrificing our outfit of points and lines linesAt At the word of the skipper we commenced to cut loose we would retain the floats at least After two were cut however the great fish abruptly took it into his head to resent our plans With a swish of its tail it dived like an arrow so swiftly that two of the three remaining floats broke off as if cut with knives and the third disappeared over the edge with its thirty fathoms of rope An in ¬ stant later there was nothing On the surface but a swirl and a tinge of blood our blackfish had gone We1 were glad for the contest had assumed the pro ¬ portions of a nightmare There are limits even to the powers of sixtydollarsaday men Lacy Amy in Wide World
