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The Sword of the Sea

One of the most impressive among many impressive kinds of fishes is the swordfish. Strong, supple, and daring beyond words, the swordfish rips into a school of mackerel, slashing and cutting with its “sword” in a most deadly fashion.

It will even attack whales or ships. In the British Museum there is displayed a swordfish sword pierced into twenty-seven inches of solid timber. A British ship in drydock for repairs in 1795 found a “sword” driven right through metal sheathing, a plank three-inches thick, and into a six-inch solid timber. A sword fish sword thrust through the bottom of a dory was said to be not uncommon. Some swordfish may attain a weight of six hundred pounds.

Swordfish have been mostly fished out of the waters of the Northeast. Not too long ago there were “day” boats that would harpoon swordfish in the waters off Martha’s Vineyard. Swordfish are pretty easily harpooned, which probably led to their demise. These days, swordfish longliners must travel as far North and East as the Flemish Cap towards Greenland to make a catch. The boats caught in The Perfect Storm were sword boats.

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