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SPORT ON LAND
AND WATER

RECOLLECTIONS OF
FRANK GRAY GRISWOLD

Volume III

PRIVATELY PRINTED
1916

COPYRIGHT, 1917
Y FRANK GRAY GRISWOLD

THE 'PLIMPTON -PRESS
NORWOOD*MASS-U-S'A

To

The ''Kittens''

ISAAC TOWNSEND
JOHN McL. NASH
ROBERT P. PERKINS
HENRY DeF. WEEKES
SHERMAN DAY
FORD HUNTINGTON

ARTHUR THOMSON
WILLIAM H. GOADBY
MILTON S. BARGER
LOUIS C. CLARK, Jb.
E. TOWNSEND IRVIN
H. K. KNAPP

By a Fellow Member

CONTENTS

I

PAGE

An Amateur Sportsman 1

Durbar II 3

Letter from H. B. Duryea 13

The Tetrarch 19

The Steeplechaser 29

II

A Good Huntsman 37

Paddy Nolan and the Conyngham Cup 39

The Phantom Fox 49

III

swordfishing in the pacific 65

The Marlin or Spearfish 85

Fishing with Kite and Sled . . 103

Pard Ill

IV

The Hyphenated "America" 117

Jack Long, The Boatswain 125

I

AN AMATEUR SPORTSMAN

AN AMATEUR IN SPORT IS A MAN WHO ENGAGES IN
SPORT NOT AS A PROFESSION OR LIVELIHOOD,
BUT SOLELY FOR THE PLEASURABLE COMPETI-
TION AND HEALTHFUL INVIGORATION IT AFFORDS.

DURBAR II

DURBAR II

AFTER the passage of the Anti-betting
Bill in 1910, which ended racing for a time
in America, Mr. H. B. Duryea, being dis-
heartened at the outlook for the American
turf, decided to ship Irish Lad and a num-
ber of highly bred brood mares to France.
Among these mares were Armenia, Ascot
Belle, Ravello II, Monroe Doctrine, Cen-
sus, Frizette, Spectatress, Content, and
Running Water, and they were accom-
panied by the race mare Mediant. He
estabhshed a stud farm called Le Gazon,
at Neuvy, near Falaise, in Normandy,
where he bred many winners, winning races
in France, with Blarney, Shannon, The
Irishman, Banshee, Bugler, Frizzle, Man-
thorpe, Ardee, Chippewa, Gavioter, Hick-
ory, and others; but his greatest triumph
was the winning of the English Derby in

6 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

1914, with Durbar II, also a horse of his
own breeding.

This was not Mr. Duryea's debut on the
Enghsh turf for he had won the Steward's
cup at Goodwood in 1909, and the Cham-
pion Sprint Handicap at Hurst Park with
Mediant. He also won the Two Thousand
Guineas, the Richmond Stakes at Good-
wood, and the Triennial Stakes at Ascot
with Sweeper II in 1912.

Although bred in France, Durbar II has
no French blood in his veins; for he is by
Rabelais, an Enghsh horse that ran third
to Rocksand in the Two Thousand Guineas
in 1903 and later won the Goodwood Cup.

Rabelais, one of the most successful
stallions in France, is by St. Simon out of
Satirical, by Satiety out of Chaff by Wild
Oats, out of Celerima by Stockwell. Sati-
ety was by Isonomy out of Wifey, by Cre-
morne, so that his dam had plenty of
Herod blood. Through St. Simon, Rabelais
has the Voltigeur line through Galopin and
Vedette.

DURBAR II 7

Durbar II's dam, Armenia, was bred by
the Hon. W. C. Whitney, and is by Med-
dler, the winner of the Dewhurst Plate, who
did not start as a three-year-old owing to
the death of his owner Mr. "Abington."
Meddler was sold to go to America where
he did great service in the stud.

Meddler was by St. Gatien, out of Busy-
body by Petrarch. Her dam Spinaway,
was by Macaroni, out of Queen Bertha, by
Kingston. These three mares each won
the Oaks, Queen Bertha and Spinaway
winning for Lord Falmouth in 1863 and
1875 and Busybody for Mr. '^Abington"
in 1884.

The dam of Armenia was Urania, by
Hanover out of Wanda, by Mortemer, out
of Minnie Minor, by Lexington, out of
Julie, by Glencoe, out of Sallie Ward, by
John R. Grymes, out of Lisbon Maid, by
Napoleon, out of Fannie Maria, by Pacolet.
Here the pedigree is lost. This is one of
the best of American racing famihes, but
under the rules governing registration in

8 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

England, Durbar II and his get cannot be
registered in the Enghsh Stud Book.

The grand dam Urania, was bred by
Mr. J. E. Edtson, while Wanda was the
best mare ever bred at Rancocas. Minnie
Minor, her dam, was owned by Mr. Pierre
Lorillard for many years, for whom she
produced sixteen foals, the best of which
was Wanda. Fannie Maria was a grey
mare owned in 1825 by Jesse Cage of
Gallatin, Tenn.

Durbar II was Armenia's third foal in
France, the other two, Tiflis and Blarney,
both won races, in fact Blarney was con-
sidered by some to be the best two-year-
old of his year in France. He won in all
209,720 fcs.

Durbar II ran four times as a two-year-
old, being placed but once, running third
in the Prix Partisan. He was a far better
colt than his record shows, as he unfor-
tunately was amiss after his second race
and never recovered his strength until he
ran as a three-year-old.

DURBAR II 9

As a three-year-old and prior to the
Derby, Durbar II had won several races in
France, but ten days before the Derby was
run he was beaten in the French Two
Thousand, by Listman and finished no
better than sixth, as he was practically
left at the post.

The talent in France thought it madness
to send the horse to England after such a
performance, but his owner knew better.
He had watched the French Two Thousand
at Longchamps with interest and had made
up his mind that it had not been a truly
run race for his horse had started badly
and had not had a chance to make up the
lost ground.

Knowing that racehorses sent to Eng-
land often suffered from the change of cli-
mate, Mr. Duryea decided to take as httle
risk as possible and shipped Durbar II by
special trains and boat, direct to Epsom,
nine days before the race. Oats, hay, and
water went with him, and everything was
done to make the journey as rapid and

10 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

comfortable as possible; the result was the
horse arrived fit and well at the post on
Derby Day.

Durbar II though nominally trained by
Thomas Murphy, an American trainer, was
actually trained by Mr. Duryea, for it was
his custom to superintend the training of all
his racehorses. The horse was ridden by Mc-
Gee the stables jockey in France, an Ameri-
can lad who had never ridden in England.

McGee arrived in London on Monday in
Derby week and accompanied Mr. Duryea
to Epsom to ride the horse in his final
gallop for the race on the following Wednes-
day. Mr. Duryea walked over the Derby
course with the jockey and showed him
exactly how he wished the race ridden and
instructed him to get off well but to keep
a strong pull on the horse until he came
to Tattenham Corner.

The Derby worth 6450 sovereigns was
run on May 27, 1914. Durbar II drew po-
sition twenty-five. Just after rounding
Tattenham Corner Durbar II deprived

DURBAR II 11

Black Jester of the lead and secured the
inside position on the rails, and when once
fairly in the straight he took up the run-
ning and maintained his position to the
finish in smooth, decisive fashion. He won
handily by three lengths from Hapsburg
with Peter the Hermit third.

Kennymore was favorite in the betting
at 9 to 4 and Durbar II started at 20 to 1.
Mr. Duryea is said to have won £40,000
on the race. The Enghsh critics described
the winner as standing about 15.3. **A
horse with a good loin and back and well
coupled, with good bone and sound looking
legs, he has beautiful action when ex-
tended and a fine free style of going which
is most attractive to watch."

Durbar II strained a tendon in the Derby
and was started in the Grand Prix de Paris
against the advice of the veterinary. He
finished third in this race but it ended his
career on the turf.

12 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER
DURBAR Il's RECORD

At 3 yrs. won

Prix St. Clouner worth . . . fcs., 22,500

Prix St. Belatre worth fcs., 48,500

Prix Biennial worth fcs., 25,000

Prix Noailles worth fcs., 61,150

157,150
Won the Enghsh Derby worth 161,250

fcs., 318,400
Ran third in Grand Prix de Paris.

LETTER FROM H. B. DURYEA

'THE FRIENDS THOU HAST, AND THEIR ADOPTION
TRIED,

GRAPPLE THEM TO THY SOUL WITH HOOPS OF
STEEL."

LETTER FROM H. B. DURYEA

La Morlaye, Rue de Senlis

June 6th, 1914.

Dear Frank:

I received your letter and thank you
very much. In fact I was so touched by
it that when my wife asked me who it was
from I could not answer for a minute or
two. The whole thing came out splendidly.
I was perfectly confident that I could win
if I got the horse over fit and well for the
race for the Poule D'Essai was a farce and
why they didn't see it will always remain
a mystery to me, but they didn't. I
thought I would win it and backed Durbar
heavily for the Derby before the Poule
D'Essai was run, for I knew if he won his
odds would go to nothing. In fact I
backed him from 30 to 1 down to 10 to 1.
There were thirty lengths between the first

15

16 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

and second divisions in the Poule D'Essai
before they had gone a furlong. Of course
the whole thing worked my way. I got a
special train on both sides and left here at
six in the morning and arrived at Epsom at
4.20 the same day, took over Shannon with
him and sent Murphy and all our boys.
Took water in glass jars and our own oats
and hay. He had far from the English
Derby preparation. He was dead fit as
he had been racing since March and my
only fear was overdoing him.

McGee came over Sunday night to ride
him in his final gallop and breakfasted with
me at six and we went together to Epsom.

I put so much stress on an easy work
that I really thought I had overdone it for
when they came up the hill Shannon was
six lengths in the lead and the horse had
really done nothing. In fact he did so
httle that I thought of repeating him a
half a mile but McGee said he went so
well that I didn't. He was as fresh as a
peach and could have made his three

LETTER FROM H. B. DURYEA 17

lengths thirty. They were all stony dead
at Tattenham Corner and he breezed home.

I won a fortune for me. It nearly killed
them. They will never get over it, neither
shall I. The King was very nice; so were
my old friends.

I may win another Derby but it will
never be like this. I am just cooling out
now!

Thanks again.

Sincerely,

H. B. DURYEA.

THE TETRARCH

NOW IN THE FIFTEENTH YEAR OF THE REIGN OF
TIBERIUS CAESAR, PONTIUS PILATE BEING GOV-
ERNOR OF JUDEA, AND HEROD BEING TETRARCH
OF GALILEE. — LUKE iii, 1.

THE TETRARCH

THE Tetrarch, the sensation of the two-
year-old racing in England during the sea-
son of 1913, is by Roi Herode out of
Vahren. He was bred by Mr. E. Ken-
nedy in Ireland and was sold as a yearling
to Mr. D. McCalmont for 1300 guineas.
He was trained by H. Persse at Stock-
bridge and ridden by Donoghue.

He is of a colour rarely seen, being a
dark grey with a slight inclination to roan,
and on his quarters there are several large
white spots.

He was a well grown, beautifully turned
and exceedingly blood-like two-year-old
with wonderful legs and great bone and
his action was perfection.

He started seven times winning his races
with the greatest ease, being blessed w4th
a wonderful turn of speed.

21

22 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

He began his racing career on April 17
by winning a Maiden two-year-old Plate
at Newmarket. He then won in succes-
sion the Woodcote, Coventry, National
Breeders Produce, Rous Memorial, Cham-
pion Breeders Foal, and the Champagne
Stakes.

He had only one other engagement for
the year, — the Imperial Produce Stakes
at Kempton Park, — but the colt hit him-
self and was retired to winter quarters,
with an unbeaten record and the winner
of seven races worth £11,336. He was
made the winter favorite for the Derby
at 3-1.

His wonderful speed was electrifying. In
the Coventry Stakes at Ascot he literally
came in alone, for he was at the winning
post before his nearest opponent was over
the crest of the hill which is eighty yards
away.

He had one close race at Sandown, win-
ning by a neck from Calandria, after being
badly bumped at the start, and in this

THE TETRARCH 23

race he was giving away from 12 to 17
pounds.

As a three-year-old he was given a slow
and careful preparation. Being a long
striding colt they had hoped by a differ-
ent method of shoeing to overcome his
habit of overreaching but were unable to
correct this fault. He hit himself early
in May while at work and injured his
fetlock joint and suspensary ligament and
was scratched for the Derby on May 13.
It was this accident that ended his racing
career.

It is the breeding of The Tetrarch that
is of paramount interest at the moment,
for he is a tail male descendant of Herod
through Thormanby and his son Atlantic,
winner of the Two Thousand Guineas
(1874) and afterwards through the French
horses Le Sancy, Le Samaritain, and Roi
Herode.

During the first haK of the XIX Cen-
tury stamina was thought to be the strong
point in the Herod line in England but the

24 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

family has fallen from grace. Billow, who
won the Ascot Stakes in 1890, was the last
Herod of English blood to win a long dis-
tance race. Most of the greatest perform-
ers of the last half Century of English
breeding have been descended from the
Blacklock strain through Vedette, Galopin,
St. Simon, and Speculum.

Herod, or King Herod, as he was known
on the turf, was foaled in 1758 and was
bred by the Duke of Cumberland and sold
to Sir John Morse in whose hands he was
a great performer on the turf. He had
really more of the Darly Arabian blood in
his veins than of the Byerly Turk.

He made his debut by beating the Duke
of Ancaster's Roman over the Beacon
course at Newmarket for £500. The course
at the time was four miles, one furlong, and
177 yards.

In France the Herod family never fell
to the depths it has reached in England,
owing to the purchase of Atlantic, and
many of the late representatives of this

THE TETRARCH 25

blood have been stayers. Atlantic was the
sire of Le Sancy, who in turn sired Le
Samaritain and Le Justicier, both success-
ful stalHons.

The Herod line in America dates in the
first place from the importation of Diomed
who won the first Derby. He was twenty-
two years old when shipped to America and
was by Florizel, a son of Herod, and his
blood runs through the best lines of Amer-
ican race horses. Diomed's best American
son was Sir Archy the sire of Timoleon who
bred the great racehorse Boston, foaled in
1833. Boston's sons Lexington and Le-
compte were great horses and made much
turf history.

This is not considered pure blood in
England and France as both the dam of
Timoleon and the dam of Lexington trace
to unknown sources, yet the great French
racehorse, Jongleur, who won the Cam-
bridgeshire in 1877, was a descendant of
Lexington through Optimist and Mars, and
Durbar H who won the Derby in 1914 has

26 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

this blood through Hanover, his grandsire
on the dam side.

In the second place the Herod strain in
America was enriched by the fortunate
importation of Glencoe. Glencoe was by
Sultan, who was also the sire of Bay Mid-
dleton, and was inbred to the Herod line.
He was a good racehorse, and won among
other races the Two Thousand Guineas and
Ascot Cup and ran third in the Derby.
He passed most of his stud life in America
and did an enormous amount of good to
the turf of this country. His blood is to
be found in most of our pedigrees. He
left no male line in England but was the
sire of the greatest of all brood mares,
Pocohontas, who bred Stockwell, Rataplan,
and King Tom in the space of three years.

Roi Herode, the sire of The Tetrarch,
is English in blood for his grandsire Le
Sancy was out of the Strathconan mare
Gem of Gems, and Clementina, the dam of
Le Samaritain his sire, was by Doncaster
out of Clemance by Newminster.

THE TETRARCH 27

Roi Herode was a fair performer both in
France and in England, but not a great
horse. He ran second to Amadis in the
Doncaster Cup and behind him were the
good horses Dark Ronald, Lagos and Dean
Swift.

Roi Herode has a staying strain through
Thormanby the sire of Atlantic, also
through Vedette through his maternal
grandsire War Dance by Gaillard, and he
by Galopin; and, moreover, Roxelane his
dam was out of Rose of York by Speculum.
Speculum was out of Rouge Rose by Thor-
manby, the dam of Bend Or and grandam
on the sire's side of Ormonde, all staying
blood.

The Tetrarch is inbred to Thormanby
and has the blood also through his dam.
He has no St. Simon blood but goes back
to Galopin, the sire of St. Simon, through
Gaillard the sire of War Dance.

The question is could The Tetrarch stay?
This can never be decided for he did not
train on. A two-year-old with such a

28 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

world of speed does not have to stay for
he is galloping when his competitors are
racing.

It would seem that The Tetrarch is bred
to stay, for in addition to his sire's stout
breeding his dam Vahren was by Bona-
vista by Bend Or out of Castania by Hagi-
oscope. Bonavista was also the sire of
Cylene.

What Roi Herode and The Tetrarch may
do in the stud is a most interesting prob-
lem. The best of their get should have
both speed and stamina and should re-
vive the Herod strain which has been so
neglected in England.

THE STEEPLECHASER

THE STEEPLECHASER

IT is almost as difficult to obtain a horse
with the qualifications fit to win a Grand
National as it is to find a Derby winner,
for he not only must be fast and able to
stay over a distance of ground under high
weights, but must also be able to jump
with the weight up.

Such a horse must be of "full size yet
not leggy — strong yet not clumsy — high-
couraged yet not intemperate." There is
a great difference between carrying 160 lbs.
over the flat and carrying the same weight
over thirty or more fences, for a horse that
can do this must not only have the best of
shoulders but he must also have the power
in his back and hindquarters to lift the
weight from the ground when jumping.

Lottery, Gaylad, The General, and the
Colonel, who won at Liverpool, were of

31

32 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

this type, but they were not quite thor-
oughbred.

In late years the pace of steeplechases
has increased so much that thoroughbred
horses only can compete with success.

When Lottery won the first race in 1839
he took 14 minutes, 53 seconds to nego-
tiate the course of four miles. About ten
years or so later this course was length-
ened by 856 yards and the time given for
Ascetic Silver's win in 1906 is 9 minutes,
34 seconds. Time in such a race depends
greatly on the state of the going, yet there
is no doubt that the class of horses running
in chases has greatly improved.

Although studs have been started at
times to breed chasers they have not had
great success, for it has been found that
only an occasional horse turns out to be
a great horse over a country.

Mr. Lorillard attempted in the '80's to
breed superior halfbred horses at Rancocas
on the theory that as a rule halfbred mares
were bred to inferior thoroughbred stal-

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THE STEEPLECHASER 33

lions, and that different results might be
expected if the best of stallions were em-
ployed in this good cause. He abandoned
the scheme after a few years as he accumu-
lated too many young horses that he could
not dispose of until they were four years old.
He did breed one grand horse by Mortemer
out of a three-quarter breed mare, for Ret-
ribution was very nearly a racehorse as well
as the best ladies' hunter I ever saw jump
the big timber fences of Long Island.

Steeplechasers do not seem to reproduce
their kind for Count Schomburg is the only
cross-country winner that I know of, that
has proved a success in the stud.

In England it is believed that a chaser is
at his best when from eight to ten years
old, and they claim that if a horse is still
sound at eight he can carry fourteen
pounds more than he was able to when a
five-year-old.

The three most celebrated winners of
the Grand National were undoubtedly
Jerry M, Cloister, and Manifesto.

34 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

Jerry M. was probably the most extraor-
dinary horse of the three. In the first
place he was a magnificent specimen. He
had great size and substance and wonder-
ful bone for a thoroughbred; was very
active, had a great turn of speed, and was
also a great performer over fences. He
was probably a very difficult horse to train
as he started but six times in three years
and finished his career by turning roarer.

That he was fast he proved by winning
the Grand Steeplechase de Paris for which
a horse of lighter build is generally con-
sidered more suitable. He is the only
horse that ever won the double event of
the big races at Liverpool and Paris in the
same year (1912). When he won the
Grand National he carried the top weight
12 stone, 7 pounds (169 lbs.). He had a
close race with a horse named Bloodstone
who, although interfered with by a loose
horse, landed first over the last fence but
was beaten home by Jerry M.

Cloister and Manifesto both won at

THE STEEPLECHASER 35

Liverpool with the top weight of 12 stone,
7 pounds. In 1891 Cloister finished a good
second to Come Away but it was hardly a
fair test. He belonged to Lord Dudley at
the time and the stable had proposed to
win the race with Royal Meath, a grand
looking horse by Ascetic. Royal Meath
broke down, so they started Cloister who
was not quite fit and was beaten by half
a length. In 1893 he won the race by
forty lengths carrying top weight. He was
out in front most of the journey and won
as he pleased, a wonderful performance.
Eight months later he won the Sefton
Steeplechase by twenty lengths with 13
stone, 3 pounds (175 lbs.) in the saddle.

Manifesto started eight times for the
Grand National. In 1895 he ran fourth.
He won in 1897 with 11 stone, 8 pounds,
and again in 1899 with 12 stone, 7 pounds,
and finished third in 1900, 1902, and 1903.
He also won the Lancashire Steeplechase.

It would be difficult to decide which was
the better horse. Manifesto started eight

36 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

times, won twice under heavy weights,
finished third three times, ran fourth,
carrying 12 stone, 10 pounds, and won the
Lancashire Steeplechase.

Cloister finished second under top weight,
then won most decisively under a like
weight, and later won the Sefton with 175
lbs. up.

Jerry M. was second in one Grand Na-
tional, and won another, carrying top
weight each time, and then won the Grand
Steeplechase de Paris.

They were three horses of a grand type,
all able to win, with great weight up, and
all were very high in the withers which
seems to be a necessary conformation for
a great weight carrier.

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II

A GOOD HUNTSMAN

GOOD HUNTSMAN IS A MAN WHO THOUGH KEEN
AND BOLD IS PATIENT WITH HORSE AND HOUND;
WHO HAS HANDS OF SILK AND NERVES OF STEEL,
WHO HAS THE PERSEVERANCE OF A HOUND AND
THE CUNNING OF A FOX. HE IS AN EXPERT
HORSEMAN, ONE WHOSE EYE FOR A COUNTRY
PROMPTS HIM TO RIDE THE SHORTEST YET EASI-
EST LINE AND WHO- IS ALWAYS WITH HOUNDS
FOR THE PURPOSE OF HUNTING WITH THEM NOT
FOR THEM, YET WHO NEVER GIVES UP THE
HUNTED FOX WHILE THERE IS A CHANCE TO
ACCOUNT FOR HIM.

PADDY NOLAN AND THE
CONYNGHAM CUP

PADDY NOLAN AND THE
CONYNGHAM CUP

I WAS stopping at Ballybeg.in the County
of Meath, one winter some years ago, en-
joying the Irish hospitahty of an old friend
which consisted in a warm welcome, the
best the land afforded in food and drink,
and the run of the stables with my choice
of what I wanted to ride. As I walked
but ten stone my host was delighted to
have me ride his heavy-weight hunters for,
as he expressed it: "You must sit tight,
my lad, or they will never know that you
are there at all, at all." I remember one
day the hounds met at Drumree and a big
bay horse called Mr. Jorrocks was sent to
the meet for me to ride. He was a safe
conveyance across country, but that day
the safety valve slipped, and we came to
grief.

41

42 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

It had been a very wet season; the banks
were waterlogged and the ditches choked
with mud. In jumping a double, the top
of the bank gave way, and Mr. Jorrocks
and I turned a back somersault into the
ditch on the near side. I luckily fell clear
of the horse and although covered with
mud from head to foot, was none the worse
for the fall. Not so Mr. Jorrocks, for he
was tightly wedged in the ditch and could
not budge beyond much struggling on the
soft bottom which only made matters
worse. I climbed up on the bank to look
for help and was delighted to see Paddy
Nolan in his pink coat and followed by his
terrier running to my assistance. Nolan
was a character, and my host had told me
his history. Twenty years before he had
been a celebrated steeplechase rider, and
when he became too heavy to ride races
he had whipped hounds for several seasons,
but increasing avoirdupois and Irish Whis-
key had combined to finish his riding days,
and he had become wrecker-in-chief to the

PADDY NOLAN 43

Meath Hunt — chief of the band of ne'er-
do-wells who in Ireland pick up a precari-
ous living by following the hunt on foot
and performing odd jobs of service and
rescue.

The whole countryside knew Paddy
Nolan and Paddy knew the whole country-
side. There was not a fox-earth in the
country that he was not acquainted with
nor a fox either. If he saw renard break
covert he could tell by the wind where he
was bound if not headed, and Paddy and
his terrier would not be far behind the
hounds when they accounted for their fox.
He always wore an old last season's pink
coat, a pair of cord breeches, and leather
leggings and kept himself neat and smart-
looking, that is, smart as wreckers go. If
anyone came to grief Paddy was sure to be
the first man to turn up and give a hand,
and he knew every trick of the trade, and
received many a ten shillings for his pains.
As I said before he arrived to help me in
the nick of time and grasped the situation

44 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

in a moment. He hailed two spalpeens
who were passing along a boreen and sent
them to the nearest farmhouse for spades
and tackle, and then sat himself down on
Mr. Jorrock's head to keep him from strug-
gling. I picked a dry spot on the top of
the bank and sat down to await develop-
ments. After lighting a cigar I remarked:
*'I hear, Paddy, you were once a great
jock." "Jock is it," said he, "shure I had
a look in in ivery race and for ivery cup in
Ireland for years, and I will tell ye of me
third ride for the Conyngham Cup. I was
jockey at the toime for young Lord Blarney,
who had a loikely string of steeplechasers
the best of which was Rory O'More who
ran three toimes for the cup and me that
rode him ivery toime. The first race he
fell at the stone wall, the second year he
was just beaten by The Banshee, a
moighty foine brown mare she was and
fast with the weight off. Rory O'More was
a grand up-standin' brown horse, a foine
lepper, and a good one to carry weight.

PADDY NOLAN 45

The year I would be telHn' ye of we
had sivin pounds the better of The Ban-
shee and they made Rory O'More the
choice in the bettin'. His Lordship thought
the race as good as won, and bet his socks
on Rory O'More, but, Captain, it is odds
against any horse standin' up over the
Punchestown course whin the goin' is deep
loike and it had been rainin' all through
the meetin'. I got well off and the old
horse was carryin' me foine, but at the
double I was jostled loike and the first
thing I knew I was flat on me back a
lookin' at the blue sky. Whin I got upon
me feet onest agin and looked round me
I saw the brown horse a standin' near with
a double twist of the reins around one fore-
leg. A friend or two gave me a hand at
clearing the entanglemints, one of thim
gave me a leg up, and I started on a stern
chase to save me stakes.

"Rory O'More was full of runnin' and
flitted along over the turf like a swallow
makin' up lost ground with ivery stride.

46 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

He surprised me with the aisy-loike way
he was goin' and whin he lept me weight
seemed as nothing to him. I passed one
after another of the tail-enders and after a
bit found meself in the thick of the foight
well up with the field. There were two
horses ahead of me, as we jumped the fince
on the top of the hill and turned towards
home. It was thin the real battle began.
Shure 'twas hammer and tongs and the
divil take the hindermost all the way down
the stretch. We never pulled a rein over
the last hurdle but jumped three abreast,
and I just barely nosed thim out at the
finish. The verdict was K,ory O'More
by a short head. I was that elated
at havin' at last won the cup that I did
not even hear the cheers they blessed
me with whin I rode back to make me
weight. His Lordship met us at the gate
and led the old horse into the paddock.
*It was a foine race ye rode, Paddy,' says
he, * for whin ye fell at the double I thought
it was all over with yez. I never thought

PADDY NOLAN 47

ye had a chance to make up the lost
ground,' and, says he 'from my point of
view this is a grand horse you're on!' I
shpped off the horse's back and loosened
the girths, his Lordship aholdin' of the
horse by the head. Suddenly I was struck
with consternation. 'Me Lord,' says I,
'we're dumbfounded and bate agin; be-
gorrah from my point of view the old horse
is a mare.' His Lordship let go of the
horse's head, and stepped to wan side to
get a better look at his horse. 'Bejasus,
Paddy,' says he, "tis The Banshee! What
in the name of hivin have ye done.^^' I had
won by a short head and I found too I
had won by a short weight, for the scales
gave me sivin pounds loight and they
wanted to fine me £5 for ridin' The Ban-
shee in the wrong colours. It seems whin
I was knocked down and silly-loike at the
double two horses fell over me, one of thim
bein' The Banshee. John Kelly who had the
leg up on the mare, lay sub-conscious loike
in the ditch takin' no interest in the pro-

48 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

ceedin's. Me old horse had recovered him-
seK quickly and made for the woods, so
that whin I pulled myseK together the sex
question did not enter me moind. I
mounted the only brown four-legged ani-
mal in sight and she proved a wrong 'un.
Now, Captain, did ye iver know the loikes
of that!" I had a good laugh and then
gave the lads a hand as they began to dig
out Mr. Jorrocks, who by this time was
nearly suffocated by mud and water.

THE PHANTOM FOX

THE PHANTOM FOX

RIDING home from hunting one wet win-
ter's evening I met Paddy Nolan plodding
along, accompanied by his terrier, on his
way to Dunshauglin where he lived in a
little thatched cottage.

After he had greeted me with a "Good
night to ye, Captain" I asked him what
had become of the fox we had been hunt-
ing. "Shure that was the Phantom Fox,"
was his reply.

We had met in the morning at Dun-
shauglin, and after an uneventful day had
drawn Poorhouse Gorse in the late after-
noon. Hounds were no sooner in covert
than the music of the pack gave notice
that renard was at home and that sport
was near at hand.

The hounds cheered on by Dale, the
huntsman, soon had the fox moving, and

51

52 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

the "Tally ho! Away! Away!" of the first
whip gave us notice that the varmint had
gone away from the lower end of the Gorse.

There was a hurrying and a scurrying of
the field, which was small in numbers for
many had gone home early, disgusted with
the lack of sport and bad weather. Now
it was every man for himself, and every
eye was keen to pick a good place as
we charged the big grass-covered bank
beyond the covert.

Hounds checked in the first field and
spread out like an opened fan, old Warrior
picked up the scent along the ditch on the
far side of the enclosure and spoke to it,
and the pack raced to him and with a
crash of music sped along the edge of the
ditch and out, into and across the boreen
beyond.

I found no difficulty in getting into the
lane for I was riding Mr. Jorrocks for my
second horse and he was most clever at
tobogganing half way down the steep bank
before dropping on to the hard, flintlike sur-

THE PHANTOM FOX 53

face of the roadway, but the boreen was
so narrow that I had to hunt for a way out.
I quickly saw that the lane made a turn
a short way to the right of where we had
landed, and that it was wider at the bend;
there I squeezed Mr. Jorrocks up the far
bank and soon found myself in the field
beyond with a dozen sportsmen, who had
discovered an easier way to the left, gal-
loping after the hounds that were stream-
ing away with Dale, the huntsman, in
their wake.

The cream of the Meath country was
before us. As far as one could see were
great pasture fields as green as in mid-
summer, for the grass does not turn brown
in that genial moist climate. These smil-
ing acres were divided by banks — some
with a ditch toward you, others with a
ditch on the far side, and many doubles
with a ditch to jump on to the bank and
another ditch on the off side. These
ditches were many of them wide enough
to engulf horse and rider if one were un-

54 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

fortunate enough to miss calculations, but
as luck would have it my mount and I
were on good terms that day and he did
not put a foot wrong the whole journey.

There was a check in a field where there
was a scampering flock of sheep. The
hounds had overrun the scent, but Dale
soon put them right and we raced on and
I soon saw a barrier facing me which I
recognized as the celebrated Gerardstown
Double. My host had pointed it out to
me one day as we were driving to the meet
and had told me it was the most formi-
dable fence in the country. I had asked,
"Do they jump that.'^" His reply had
been, "Not many try, and those that do
generally remain a prey for the wreckers."
This bank is wide enough for a coach and
four to be driven along its top and has
clumps of trees growing on it in places,
and the two ditches are wide enough for
one to sail in a boat in time of flood.

Mr. Jorrocks, being a "lepper" of re-
nown, much above my weight, and a keen

THE PHANTOM FOX 55

and honest horse as well, jumped up against
and on to the bank, took a stride on top,
slid half way down the far side, and with
a mighty thrust of his strong hind legs
landed safely in the field beyond. The
huntsman had jumped just ahead of me
and had vanished completely out of sight.
When I was on top of the bank I saw him
sailing away after the hounds. I heard
afterwards that there had been some grief
and that one horse and rider had to be
dug out of the near-side ditch, but that
most of the field had jumped into the
road rather than take the chances of
being buried ahve.

Hounds turned to the right and after a
time I saw in the distance the stone wall
that surrounds the Blarney Castle demesne.
I knew this wall encircled the thousand-
acre estate and that there was no gate on
the side we were approaching, and won-
dered what would happen, for the wall is
seven feet high. Hounds raced up to the
wall, divided, and then worked back and

56 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

forth in a helpless, discouraged sort of
manner.

Dale, the huntsman, slipped off his horse,
loosened the girths, and remarked in a de-
jected way: "Gentlemen, the hunt is over,
it is getting late, I will take hounds home."
The whips rounded up and counted the
hounds and the establishment started on
its long jog to the kennels.

I was on my way home to my host's
hospitable mansion and wondering where
the fox had vanished to when, as I said,
I met Paddy Nolan on the road and was
informed that the fox we had been hunt-
ing was the Phantom Fox.

Paddy was walking beside my tired horse
when I asked him: "Why Phantom Fox.^"
"I will tell ye, Captain" said he. "Two
years ago come Christmas Day we drew
the Poorhouse Gorse, found a fox that wint
the very same journey ye took to-day, and
disappeared in the very same manner and
at the very same place. Lord Blarney was
the Master at the toime and was much put

THE PHANTOM FOX 57

out at the way the varmint had treated
him. Whin I came up and suggested that
the fox had jumped the wall there was a
merry twinkle in his lordship's eye, for he
has a great sinse of humor, has his lord-
ship.

"I remimber onest whin I was a jock
ridin' a chase for him at Navan. Me mount
was a mare called Vampire and we fell twice
— onest at the wall and agin at the double.
Whin I had collected me broken bones and
had caught the mare we made our way to
the paddock and were greeted by his lord-
ship with, 'What detained ye, Paddy .f^' says
he. 'Shure I was twice at the bat and
twice I hit the ground with the small of me
back,' says I. *Shure it's poor cricket ye
play, Paddy,' says he. Well — on the day
of the hunt I would be tellin' ye of his
lordship offered to bet me the price of a
dhrink that no fox could jump the Blarney
wall, for, says he, *It is sivin foot three
high if it is an inch.' That wall. Captain,
was built by the tinints of his lordship's

58 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

grandfather at the toime of the great fam-
ine. The people of Ireland was starvin' to
death and the old man loosened his purse
and supplied the 'rocks' that bought food
for thim as dug up the stones to build that
wall. They must have been moighty hun-
gry to build a wall loike that. Well — his
lordship followed his remark by an offer of
half-a-crown if I would f oind the earth that
harbored that hunted fox. I replied that,
as the following day would be Sunday, I
would get Mickey Nolan to give me a
hand at the job after Mass. *Is Mickey
related to ye,' says he. 'Distantly,' says
I. 'Shure, I be me mithir's first child —
Mickey was the tinth.' His lordship
laughed loike, for he has a sinse of humor,
has he.

"Me and Mickey and the terrier hunted
the whole country side that Sunday morn-
in' but nary a hole big enough to house a
coney could we foind, and shure Mickey
has the eyes and the habits of a ferrit.
Several toimes that fox has run that same

THE PHANTOM FOX 59

line since thin and vanished at the same
spot. Dale, the huntsman, gave him his
name and beheves there be something
queer about that fox and that he be
friendly with the Banshee, a sort of
flyin'-fox loike.

"One day last winter hounds met at
Trim. 'Twas a poor scenting day, and
about four in the afternoon the Master
told the huntsman to take the hounds
home. I remember hearing Dale say he
was one hound short as he turned into the
road. I started across country, for it's
miles shorter that way home from where
we finished. I was skirtin' the Blarney
property whin I heard the voice of a hound
huntin'. I listened and found the hound
was comin' my way so I climbed a small
tree to get a bird's-eye-view of the situa-
shun and saw old Warrior a huntin' back
and forth along a ditch and a big red fox
a sittin' on the top of the bank takin' great
interest in the sport that Warrior was
havin' by his lonesome.

60 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

"Whin Warrior reached the spot where
the fox had lept up on to the bank he put
his head up, saw the varmint, and let out
a howl of deloight as much as to say —
'What a day we're havin'!' The fox
jumped from the bank, cleared both ditch
and hound, and came towards me with
Warrior in full cry close to his brush. The
fox made straight for the Blarney wall
lookin' for all the wurld loike a Bengal
tiger, and with a swish or two of his white
tagged brush lept as clean as ye loike bang
up on top of the wall and sat down con-
templating old Warrior with a twinkle in
his eye and a curl to his upper lip.

"The tally-ho I gave to celebrate the
foinest lep I had iver seen must have been
heard for miles. It stampeded the Phan-
tom Fox for he disappeared in the twiloight
and old Warrior followed me home to the
kennels.

"Some foine wet day his foxship with
his propellor clogged with mud will miss
stays and his circus lep won't come off."

THE PHANTOM FOX 61

Before parting with Paddy at the door
of the Dewdrop Inn I parted with the
price of several "dhrinks."

After giving the gallant but weary Mr.
Jorrocks a pail of gruel I continued my
journey homewards with gratitude to the
Phantom Fox for the fine sport he had
given us and with the hope that he might
live many a long day, for although the
killing is a satisfaction to the huntsman
and fair game to the hounds, it is the hunt-
ing of the fox that gives the most pleasure
to the true sportsman.

Ill

FISHING

THERE IS A PLEASING RHYME WHICH TELLS OF AN
ANGLER, AT THE END OF AN EVENTFUL DAY WHO I

"took WITH HIGH ERECTED COMB
THE FISH, OR ELSE THE STORY HOME
AND COOKED IT."

SWORDFISHING IN THE
PACIFIC

I ROAM THE SEAS TO FIGHT THE WHALE,
WITH SWORD I THRUST, I STRIKE WITH TAIL,
BUT WHEN i'm HOOKED I SOUND AND FIGHT
THE LUCKLESS FISHERMAN HALF THE NIGHT.

SWORDFISHING m THE
PACIFIC

THE swordfish {Xiphias gladius) of the
Pacific is the same fish that is so well
known in the Atlantic Ocean. Several
thousand of these fish are captured every
season during July and August along our
coast from Block Island to Halifax, N. S.

The average weight of the swordfish
shipped to the Boston market is about
360 pounds, and there is a legend among
the fishermen that a fish was once brought
in that weighed 750 pounds.

The U. S. Fisheries Commission have
never been able to find out where these
fish breed. No very small fish have ever
been taken along our coast although the
Commission did capture a 25 pounder on
one occasion. It is known that the fish
breed in the Mediterranean, but as they

67

68 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

appear there at the same season of the
year that they do here this would hardly
apply to our fish.

These fish are found in midsummer swim-
ming leisurely along on top of the water
apparently sunning themselves. The boat-
men steal upon them in power-boats. A
fisherman is poised on the bowsprit or bow
of the boat supported by a so-called pulpit
of iron, and when just over the fish har-
poons him. The steel end of the harpoon
is driven well home and to it is attached a
long strong rope which is coiled in a tub
so that it will run free. To the end of the
rope a five gallon keg painted white is fas-
tened. This keg usually bears its owner's
or the boat's name.

The harpooned fish always go to wind-
ward, and it used to be quite an under-
taking to follow them in the days when
sailpower had to be depended on, but the
motor-boat has made it easy work.

The swordfish soon tires after sounding
deep a few times, and when the tired fish

SWORDFISHING IN THE PACIFIC 69

comes to the surface he is lanced and
hauled on board.

Great numbers of fish are taken in this
manner every season. I heard of one boat
that after a fourteen days' trip divided
$5000 among a crew of five fishermen.
The swordfish bring fifteen cents a pound
in the Boston market and are excellent
eating.

Swordfishing is not carried on as a pro-
fession in the Pacific nor is the fish to be
found in the market, but swordfishing with
a rod and reel has become a sport, and an
arduous one, for the members of the Tuna
Club at Avalon.

The first fish was taken in 1913 since
which time eighteen fish have been brought
in and weighed that averaged 298f pounds.
The largest fish weighed 404 pounds but
unfortunately was disqualified. The heavi-
est qualified fish weighed 362 pounds and
the smallest 130 pounds.

Regulation Tuna Club tackle is used —
a sixteen-ounce tip five feet or more long

70 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

and 1200 feet or more of 24-thread line.
The leader is made of strong piano wire
doubled. Two six-foot wires are strung
from the hook to a one-inch ring and two
wires of the same length join this ring to
another one onto which the line is bent.
The rings are for the glove-handed boat-
man to hold on to when he gaffs the fish.
Some fishermen use a chain on the hook
and a swivel in place of the middle ring
but they are not quite trustworthy.

Mr. Boschen, the strongest and most
skillful fisherman in the Tuna Club, has
fished for swordfish daily from June 1st to
October for three years. He has fought
some forty odd fish and has landed but
eight. He has battled with them for five,
eight, and even eleven hours and half
through the night. He tells me they really
do not wake up until it grows dark. He
fought one fish for eleven hours. The fish
sounded forty-eight times and had to be
pumped up and led the launch twenty-
nine miles before he was lost owing to the

r^\.

MR. JOHN V. ELIOT AND
SWORDFISH

5 hours and 7 minutes

SWORDFISHING IN THE PACIFIC 71

steel hook having cut through the brass
chain attached to it.

Mr. Boschen thinks they are the greatest
fish that swim. They certainly are the
most difficult to kill for they have a
strength and vitality that are beyond be-
hef. They fight as a heavyweight fighter
boxes, for their every move is deliberate
and well thought out. The marlin fights
quickly and is all over the place; not so the
swordfish. He moves as a rule slowly but
with great strength and deliberation, yet
he is known to be the fastest swimmer of
the seas. Now and then, it is said, a
crazy fish is hooked and acts quite dif-
ferently.

The swordfish do not begin to fight until
after the first or second hour when they
seem to wake up, and a fish has been
known to fight for an hour after he had
the gaff in him and before he could be
securely roped. Once you have a rope
around the fish's tail he is safely captured
but not until then.

72 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

There were seven swordfish brought in
during the eighteen days that I was at
Avalon and four of them had been foul-
hooked. The 404 pound fish was hooked
in the anal fin, the hook having passed
from his mouth through his gills in some
mysterious manner and fastened in the
anal fin. The wire had cut through the
gills and after a five hours' fight the fish
had bled to death and sank. He had to
be handed up as the rod could not lift the
weight. It took three men forty minutes
to bring him to the surface tail first. His
tail was then roped and he was towed
twelve miles to Avalon.

Two fish were brought in wrapped up
in the wire leader which had caught
the hook and held the fish as in a vise.
In both cases the bait was still on the
hook.

The swordfish when he sees the bait
sinks and the first thing he does is to hit
the bait a hard blow with his sword. He
seems to do this at times from pure vicious-

SWORDFISHING IN THE PACIFIC 73

ness, for he does not always take the bait
after hitting it but moves oflF. He seems
to be a poor batsman for he often be-
comes foul hooked by striking the wire in-
stead of the bait; the wire enwraps his
sword and in his struggles he becomes foul-
hooked.

One fish had been hooked in the anal fin
and the wire had been across his mouth
which was badly lacerated. If foul-hooked
in the body and not in the fins the hook
usually pulls out as they are a tender-
skinned fish.

It is very hard work, the hardest fishing
undertaking that I ever indulged in, and I
do not advise anyone to undertake it who
is not young and strong and who does not
weigh at least 180 pounds, yet there are
moments in swordfishing that are intensely
interesting even for a lightweight.

The Farnum brothers of moving picture
fame, both strong men, fought a broadbill
for eleven hours. One of them wore a har-
ness made of webbing. The harness broke

74 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

and he not only lost the fish, but the rod,
line, and reel as well, for the fish took them
with him. One of the brothers succeeded
later in capturing a fish much to every-
one's satisfaction.

When I arrived at Santa Catalina Island
I found that the kind secretary of the Tuna
Club had engaged the 28-foot launch
*' Shorty" for me to fish in and told me
that there were no marlin or tuna about,
which was a great disappointment.

The boatman, "Shorty" by nickname,
hailed originally from Harlem, and as we
were both Gothamites we understood one
another at once for we spoke the same
language. The first mate was Pard,
"Shorty's" dog. Pard is a skilled fisher-
man and would always let us know when
he saw a swordfish.

The Island of Santa Catalina is ever a
joy to look at. Its bold beauty of outline
and picturesque rocks, its sunny canons
which appear from time to time as you
coast along its shores, and the fog-banks

SWORDFISHING IN THE PACIFIC 75

that overhang the mountains in the early
mornings always impress one greatly.

If you chmb the hills and look down on
the sea the picture is wonderful. You can
see miles of coast line and the extraordi-
nary colour of the sea can be observed, vary-
ing as it does from the palest and most
impalpable of greens immediately under
the shore to a deeper emerald beyond, and
then as far as the eye can reach it is blue,
the incomparable deep blue of the warm
Pacific Ocean.

We started out at 8 a.m. the first day
after my arrival at Avalon. I told " Shorty"
to keep in shore and to zigzag along, one
mile off shore then back to the edge of the
kelp, for I wanted a marlin and they are
supposed to be found in shore. The fog
overhung the island and I could not see
where we were going nor did I pay much
attention for it was a joy to be in a boat
on a smooth sea after four days of railroad
travel.

We had been fishing about two hours

76 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

when ''Shorty" said: ''Here is a broadbill
and he is a buster; will you try him?"
The local names for the swordfish are
broadbill or flatbill to distinguish him from
the marlin whose bill is round. I found
that we were four miles oflf shore and that
"Shorty" had been instructed to put me on
to a big swordfish, and he did it with a
vengeance.

I looked over my shoulder and saw the
dorsal fin of a large fish moving slowly
near by and his tail, which was partly above
the surface, seemed to be at least six feet
from the dorsal fin. He was moving
through the water leaving no wake behind
him such as a shark does, and making no
use of his tail; this he is enabled to do
owing to the great power of his pectoral
fins.

The launch was slowed down. I had a
flying-fish on the hook and let out 150 feet
of line. The boatman now tried to man-
oeuvre the boat in such a manner that the
bait would swing in front of and near the

SWORDFISHING IN THE PACIFIC 77

fish. This was difficult as the swordfish
was turning the same way we were, seem-
ing unwilhng to cross our wake.

At last he saw the bait and as the fish
sank the launch was stopped. He disap-
peared without a motion or the least flirt
of the tail. The balance of these fish is
perfection.

" Shorty " said : " He is now going down to
give it the once over; turn everything loose
and give him plenty of line." The line was
jarred as the fish struck the bait a hard
blow and then it began to run out slowly.
I gave him about two hundred feet and
when the line became taut struck hard.

I had hooked my first swordfish!

He made a run of about two hundred
yards and then sounded about six hundred
feet, stayed down a few moments and al-
lowed himself to be pumped up. He then
came up to the surface and thrashed about
in a circle, sounded again, was pumped up
again. He did this several times. Within
the first hour I had the double line, which

78 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

was doubled back fifteen feet, on the reel
three times and the wire leader was above
the surface. We could see the fish plainly
and ''Shorty" said he would weigh over 500
pounds, but fish always look big under
those circumstances and I was too busy to
estimate weights. One thing I had dis-
covered: he was too heavy for me, for in
some of his sudden plunges he had nearly
pulled me overboard. For the first time in
my life I wished I weighed two hundred
instead of one hundred and thirty pounds.

Suddenly the fish made a dive under the
boat. I turned everything loose and shoved
the rod six feet into the sea. The fish came
to the surface on the other side of the boat
as "Shorty" started the launch ahead and
the line cleared.

This woke Senor Espada up and he raised
Cain for two hours. He tried every fish
trick known and jumped clear of the sur-
face so that I could not help getting a good
look at him. He was a very big fish; his
sword looked five feet long to me, but

MR. HUGO R. JOHNSTONE AND
RECORD SWORDFISH

362 pounds — 2 hours, 4^ minutes

SWORDFISHING IN THE PACIFIC 79

everything in me had been stretched by this
time, even my eyesight and imagination.

It had been a cold foggy morning. I
had on two sweaters. First one then the
other had been peeled off. Then my collar
and my hat had been thrown aside.
"Shorty" remarked about this time that if
I kept on I would be naked before the fish
was taken.

I fought the fish for all I was worth for
four hours and twenty minutes, then
brought him to the boat on his side. I
had most of the double line on the reel and
four feet of the leader out of the water. I
called to "Shorty" to put the gaff into him.
Just then the fish gave a last struggle and
went under the boat and the line fouled on
the upper end of the shoe that protects the
propellor. The fish still on his side was
under the boat in plain view but beyond
the reach of the gaff and held by the
fouled line.

I slacked my line to see if the boatman
could clear it with the gaff. The bag of

80 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

the slack line drifted under the boat.
"Shorty" caught it with the gaff and cut it
with his knife, then cut the line on the rod
side of the boat, knotted the two ends, and
told me reel in. I reeled in twenty-five
feet or so of loose line and found he had
cut the fish loose for he had knotted the
wrong end and had thrown the fish end
overboard.

I thought much but said nothing!

I put my rod down with relief mingled
with disgust and looked over the side of
the boat at the swordfish. He slowly re-
vived a httle, struggled, pulled the end of
the Une free and sank.

I had been very tired at the end of the
first hour but had my second wind and
was going strong at the finish.

I was a pretty stiff fisherman the follow-
ing day. All my old hunting and polo
breaks and strains were in strong evidence.
If there had been a trout stream on the
island I would have gone trout fishing.
Trout were about my size that day.

SWORDFISHING IN THE PACIFIC 81

Trying to make the fish take the bait
and the moments that passed after the fish
faded away beneath the surface and until
he was hooked were moments of great ex-
citement, but the rest of the time had been
too hard work to call it unadulterated
pleasure.

There were members of the Tuna Club
at Avalon who had fished for forty, yes,
fifty days and had not persuaded a fish to
take the bait, and I had hooked one before
I had been fishing two hours. They called
that good luck but I did not feel that way
at the moment, yet I revived quickly.

A few days later I hooked another large
fish, pumped and hauled him for three
hours, and broke my rod at the butt. The
boatman spliced the rod while I held the
tired fish with the tip. I then brought the
fish alongside in twenty minutes more
quite ready to gafiF. The boatman had the
leader in one hand and the gaff in the other
when the leader caught between the brass
cap of the exhaust, which was not screwed

82 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

home, and the side of the boat. The hook
straightened out and the fish sank. The
hook had been in the corner of his hard
mouth.

Swordfish were very plentiful this sum-
mer for the first time. I counted and
fished for nine one morning not five miles
from Avalon. Some days they seem very
shy and will not look at any bait. It is
the custom to try a barracouta for bait if
they refuse the flying-fish, and if they do
not take that an albacore may entice them.
They have been known to take an albacore
weighing twenty -four pounds.

After ten days' fishing for broadbills I
left for Clemente, to look for marlin, where
I remained three days and on my return
had five more days with the swordfish.

The sea was like glass most mornings
so that the fish could be seen at a great
distance.

In the last five days I tried about twenty-
five broadbills but only hooked one. The
others would either cut the bait off the

MR. J. S. DOUGLAS' SWORDFISH

404 pounds

SWORDFISHING IN THE PACIFIC 83

hook or else pay no attention to it but
swim off and come to the surface one hun-
dred yards or more away, where we would
follow and try again. We often wasted
two hours after one fish in this manner. If
the fish are not hungry this treatment
seems to bore them for they will jump
out clumsily four or five times.

I played the third fish four hours and
forty minutes, "Shorty" taking the rod for
a short time to allow him to feel the
weight of the fish. When the fish seemed
to be leading nicely the hook pulled out. I
am sure he was foul-hooked in his thin-
skinned body for I could feel the hook slip
from time to time. After the first hour
he jumped at least ten feet into the air
showing plainly his broad back, which
looked as wide as the bottom of a canoe.
He then ran out six hundred feet of line
and fought on the surface. This amused
the dog, Pard, greatly.

It is difficult to persuade a broadbill to
bite and still more difficult to hook him.

84 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

and if he is a big one, still more difficult to
do anything with him after he is hooked.

He is a much more interesting fish to
fight than the large tuna for he is a better
general and no two fish seem to fight alike.
There is a sameness about tuna fishing that
does not exist in swordfishing.

It would be quite impossible to kill these
fish without the modern reel with its heavy-
drag; thumb pressure alone could not do
it, the fish are too strong.

This fishing was a lesson to me in what
fishing tackle will stand. I did not think
it possible that a split bamboo rod and a
24-thread line could stand such a strain.

The rod I broke had just come from the
shop after having a new ferrule fitted on
the tip. The workman must have dam-
aged the outer skin of the bamboo for the
rod broke gradually.

It was hard work but a great experience,
for one learns something every day one
fishes, no matter how many days or how
many years one devotes to the sport.

THE MARLIN OR SPEARFISH

"with his mouth wide open and his fins all

SPREAD,
WALKING ON HIS TAIL AND STANDING ON HIS HEAD,
SPEARFISH OR SWORDFISH, CALL HIM WHAT YOU WILL,
he's THE VERY KING OF THE FIGHTING DEVILS STILL."

THE MARLIN OR SPEARFISH

{Tetrapturis mitsukurii)

I JOURNEYED from Maine to Santa
Catalina Island, California, at the end of
August to attempt to take a marlin. This
fish is the jumping-jack of the Pacific
ocean, and I had heard so much of his
acrobatic performances that I decided that
no journey would be too long if I could but
capture one.

The marlin is sometimes called the Jap-
anese swordfish, which is a misnomer, for
his so-called sword is a spear shaped hke
a marlin-spike, hence the name, marlin.
He is a true spearfish and is to be found
in the warm waters of the Pacific ocean.

He appears, as a rule, off the island of
San Clemente in early September, coming
from the south. San Clemente is twenty
miles due south of Santa Catalina Island.

87

88 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

Some years these fish have been very
numerous off the latter island during the
second half of the month of September,
but I was disappointed when told on my
arrival at the Tuna Club that but one fish
had so far been taken during the summer.
Others had been reported but they were
few and far between.

As the members of the club were all fish-
ing for swordfish (Xiphias gladius) I had
to follow suit, for no tuna were reported.

We roamed the ocean and *' Shorty," my
boatman, and Pard, his dog, looked for
swordfish. I kept a line wet most of the
time, hoping for a stray marlin.

After ten days' swordfishing I heard that
the marlin were reported as being plentiful
off the island of San Clemente and decided,
Mohammed-like, to go to the mountain.

What makes the waters around the Chan-
nel Islands ideal for fishing is the fact that
on nine out of ten mornings during the
summer months you will find the ocean as
smooth as glass. About noon the westerly

H

X

w

9

>
Z

n
r
m

Z

H

THE MARLIN OR SPEARFISH 89

trades begin to blow. Sometimes it is a
gentle wind but often it blows hard and
the sea becomes too rough for comfortable
fishing after two o'clock.

We made an early start from Avalon in
order to take advantage of a smooth sea,
coasted along lovely Santa Catalina, cleared
the island, and steered due south for the
camp at San Clemente.

It was not long before the fog which
overhangs the islands in the early mornings
Ufted so that we could see San Clemente in
the distance.

San Clemente is evidently the overflow
of a great volcano and is a mountain of
rock and lava rising from the sea. It is
studded with caverns and caves, not only
along the coast hne but beneath it and up
its canon-riven sides.

The flora consists of arborvitae, ironwood,
cactus, and ice-plants, and wild oats grow
on the tableland.

The island belongs to the United States
government and is leased as a sheep-ranch.

90 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

It supports some fifteen thousand sheep
and wild goats which feast upon the wild
oats and use the caves for shelters. The
only inhabitants are the sheep herders and
Pete Schneider, a Belgian, who runs the
camp at Mosquito Harbour where we were
bound.

We reached the island about four hours
after leaving Avalon, having seen but little
sea-life on the way — only a few sunfish
jumping here and there and a school or
two of porpoises.

We found the camp a very simple one
but clean and the food very good. We
slept under canvas, washed and shaved
out of doors, and took our meals in a
wooden shack.

The island is about eighteen miles long
and has great majestic beauty of outline.
The waters that surround it have been
celebrated for fishing. Tuna, yellowtail,
white sea-bass, black sea-bass, and marlin
are to be found in plenty at the right
seasons.

MARLIN WHEN FIRST HOOKED

THE END OF A JUMP

THE MARLIN OR SPEARFISH 91

We found but one party fishing there
and they arrived home at suppertime
empty handed.

I told ''Shorty" to find out from their
boatman where the marhn were trading,
for several fish had been taken during
the week. The jealous boatman gave
*' Shorty" the wrong advice by telling him
the fish were to be found in shore.

We started the following morning bright
and early and zigzagged the whole length
of the island but found only one fish
lazily sunning himself on the surface. Try
as we would we could not persuade him to
look at any bait.

We trolled for ten weary hours. I say
weary hours for it is a strain to troll a
flying-fish bait weighing a pound at the
end of one hundred or more feet of line
held by thumb pressure only, for one must
be ready to give line if one has a strike as
the fish pick up the bait and move off be-
fore gorging it. That is the theory but
not my experience, for the following day

92 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

I trolled with only seventy-five feet of line
and struck the fish when he struck me.

That night a kind sportsman told me
that we had been on the wrong track, that
the fish were off shore at the eastern end
of the island. It seems the kelp-cutter
from the potash factory at San Diego had
been cutting the kelp, some of which had
floated off shore and harboured much bait,
and the marlin were feeding on this small
fry.

We were off at seven the following morn-
ing and rounded Eastern Point where the
sea was breaking on the reef in great circles
of white foam.

We trolled around the point, into and
around Smugglers' Cove, a celebrated fish-
ing ground, and then made a bee line off
shore. About six miles out we found acres
of floating kelp with myriads of small fish
jumping about, evidently being pursued.

It was not long before we lost the teaser.
A teaser is a flying-fish attached by twenty-
five feet of line to a fifteen-foot bamboo

MARLIN STANDING ON HIS TAIL

TRYING TO SHAKE HOOK LOOSE

THE MARLIN OR SPEARFISH 93

pole. No hook is used. This flying-fish
skitters along on top of the water and acts
as chum. My bait was fifty feet further
astern.

I soon had a strike and hooked a marlin.
He jumped half out of water and tried to
shake the hook loose but I had driven it
well home. He then performed a stunt
that was beyond all my fishing experience.
We were following the fish at full speed at
the time and the reel brake was on, but
this strong and lively fish jumped twenty-
two times in a straight line tearing the line
off the bending rod as he went. He then
sounded and jumped again, fought on top
of the water, swam in circles, and performed
every kind of piscatorial acrobatics known.
He jumped twenty-nine times and in forty-
five minutes I had him alongside stone
dead. My first marlin! I was warm with
excitement and pleasure, for my journey of
thirty-five hundred miles had now been
well worth while.

"Shorty" shook me by the hand and

94 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

suggested that we land a few more, which
we proceeded to do after stowing our fish
on board.

I soon had another strike and hooked
the fish. This one proved to be a perfect
dancing-master, for after showing his beak
and shaking his head he made a run of
about one hundred feet, then rose up out
of the sea and did a song and dance on
the end of his tail for fully one hundred
yards. We were following him at full
speed but he was simply stripping the line
from off the reel. Then he disappeared be-
low the surface and "Shorty" said: ''You
have lost him." The line was slack and I
was reeling in as fast as I could when sud-
denly I saw the spearfish on top of the
water, charging down upon us, while fol-
lowing him was the bag of the slack line
cutting the spindrift off of the tops of the
white-crested waves. He was coming at
great speed. I yelled: "Port your helm,
'Shorty,'" and as the boat turned the fish
shot by on the surface close under the stern.

THE MARLIN OR SPEARFISH 95

Would he have gone through or under
the boat had we not altered our course?
I wonder.

As the line became taut the fish jumped
clear of the surface. He jumped in all
twenty-two times and in thirty-five min-
utes came alongside belly up, when it was
found that he was hooked in the tail.

The fish was beautiful to look at. The
greater part of his body was bright silver
and he was striped with translucent royal
purple stripes an inch wide. His back was
dark green bronze and his tail and fins were
mauve.

When in the water he is a blaze of glory
but the colours soon fade after the dead
fish is exposed to the air. A mounted
marlin gives one an idea of the graceful
shape of the fish but no idea of his real
beauty of colour.

It took us some time to hoist the dead
fish on board, for although a fish only
weighs in the water the number of pounds
that the water he displaces would weigh.

96 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

any part of the fish that is above the sur-
face is of course dead weight.

The first fish had been laid across the
stern of the boat; that was easy, but this
fish had to be roped on to the narrow deck
on the port side.

His weight at the moment was over two
hundred pounds and the combined weight
of fisherman and boatman was only two
hundred and sixty pounds. "Shorty" fas-
tened the peak halliard block to the bill of
the marhn while I roped his tail. Then
the fish was hoisted half out of the water
but I did not have strength enough to hft
the other half on board. I told "Shorty"
to gaff the fish in or near the anal fin and
give me a hand, get the fish on board, and
lower away.

Now a funny thing happened. It was
rough and we were rolling about in the
trough of the sea. As "Shorty" attempted
to drive the gaff home the end of the bam-
boo teaser pole, which had been carelessly
thrown on top of the deck house and was

/

/

THE MARLIN OR SPEARFISH 97

foul of the mast, caught *' Shorty" in the
back as the boat rolled and catapulted him
into the sea. He climbed back on board a
very wet and surprised sailorman for he did
not know what had hit him.

We soon found the floating kelp and the
jumping small fry and had not been troll-
ing more than a quarter of an hour before
we ran into a school of marlin. Four or
five rushed after the teaser and pulled the
pole overboard. It went bobbing away
astern, first disappearing entirely, then
shooting straight up on end. This hap-
pened several times in a most comical
manner before the fish disconnected the
flying-fish from the line to which it was
made fast.

A moment later a marlin took my bait,
I hooked him, and the music began again.
The fish emerged with beak open and
shook himself, then rushed on top of the
water for one hundred yards and jumped
clear of the surface. He then pirouetted
once or twice on the end of his tail and

98 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

jumped again. After jumping sixteen times
in twenty minutes he sounded and fought
more hke a true swordfish than a marhn.
He was a tough customer to handle and it
took me eighty minutes to land him.

I looked at my watch as he was gaffed
and found it was just three hours and a
half from the time of the strike of the first
fish!

** Shorty" remarked: "Some fishing, eh.^^
Let's corral another."

I insisted on having lunch first, which we
devoured while the launch with her six
hundred pounds of fish on deck tried hard
to roll over.

A heavy sea was running. It had been
all I could do while playing the last fish to
keep from going overboard. Had it not
been for my patent rod rest which held
my rod steady and gave me something to
hold on to, I should have been in the sea
and like "Shorty" arrayed in an Isadora
Duncan bathing suit.

It was too rough to fish so we started

THREE AND ONE HALF HOURS' FISHING
AT SAN CLEMENTE

THE MARLIN OR SPEARFISH 99

back to camp. We had not gone far
before ** Shorty" saw a swordfish, a true
broadbill. He slowed the launch down and
wanted me to try him. I told him to give
the fish a wide berth and go full steam
ahead. I wanted no five-hour fight with
a broadbill in that rough sea after the
three hours and a half of calisthenics that
I had been through. In fact I had had
enough fishing for one day. How seldom
that happens!

On our way back to the camp we ran
into a large school of marlin. The crest of
every big wave was pierced by their large
dorsal fins as they rode on the top of the
heavy swells. I never saw such a fish pic-
ture before and it was heartrending to
think that it was too rough to fish with
safety. We had a teaser pole out, which
was torn loose. The fish seemed ready to
devour everything in sight.

It was too rough to go back to Avalon
that night so we remained at the camp.

We got even with the jealous boatman.

100 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

His face was a study when he saw our three
fish. He had been too faint-hearted to face
the rough sea off shore, and there were no
fish that day under the lee of the island, so
his party had a blank day.

The wind was strong from the northwest
and as our course was due north we had a
rough trip of over five hours and a half the
following day and arrived at Avalon with
everything on board afloat.

The fish were weighed on the Tuna Club
scales thirty hours after they had been
taken and tipped the beam at 189, 186, and
183 pounds. These fish seem all to be of
about the same length, from ten to eleven
feet, their weight depending on their girth.

Marhn are the most sensational fish that
swim. Their pace and agility, the way
they walk the tight rope on the end of their
tails, and their power to jump have to be
seen to be beheved.

I am told that the heavy fish — record
340 pounds — do not jump much and are
hard to kill.

OSPREY NEST SAN CLEMENTE

THE MARLIN OR SPEARFISH 101

A friend of mine saw a marlin in the fish
market at Honolulu that weighed 725
pounds, and it is said that fish exist that
weigh one thousand pounds or more.

The tackle allowed by the rules of the
Tuna Club is a rod of wood consisting of
a butt and tip not to be shorter than six
feet nine inches over all; the tip not less
than five feet in length and to weigh not
more than sixteen ounces; line not to ex-
ceed standard 24 thread. The hooks used
are the regulation tarpon troUing-hooks.
The wire leader is twelve feet long and the
bait a flying-fish. I fished with 1000 feet
of line but most fishermen carry from 1200
to 1500 feet.

RECORD

The first marlin, weighing 125 pounds,
was taken in 1903. There was another
taken in 1905 and again in 1908.

9 were taken in 1909
9 were taken in 1910
9 were taken in 1910

102 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

34 were taken in 1911
100 were taken in 1912
22 were taken in 1913
24 were taken in 1914
47 were taken in 1915
70 were taken in 1916

327 fish
The largest fish weighed 340 pounds.

THE END

FISHING WITH KITE AND
SLED

ALL THAT ARE LOVERS OF VIRTUE, ... BE QUIET
AND GO A-ANGLING."

Walton

FISHING WITH KITE AND
SLED

NO one has ever been able to decide what
causes fish to change their habits yet every
fisherman has theories on the subject.

When I first visited Catahna Island in
1900 the tuna were very plentiful and
could be taken by simply trolling a hun-
dred feet of line behind a launch, with a
flying-fish for bait.

I captured five in six hours, averaging
one hundred pounds in weight, and landed
thirteen fish in fifteen days' fishing within
five miles of Avalon.

On my second visit in 1910 it was im-
possible to persuade a tuna to take unless
the bait was skittered in front of his nose
and the fish persuaded that the flying-fish
was alive. Why this change.^

Some of the fishermen maintained that
the tuna had become educated and there-

105

106 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

fore more diflScult to deceive. They are a
migratory fish and it is hardly probable
that the same schools return as a rule
to the waters of the Channel Islands,
especially as the fish have the habit of
disappearing entirely for years at a time.

The fact remains that the schools of fish
would vanish if approached by a boat and
would not follow the wake of a launch
under any circumstances.

Skittering a one-pound bait with a rod
is hard work, so kite fishing was invented
at Avalon for this purpose and proved to
be a great success, and it has become the
belief that no one can take a tuna these
days by any other means.

The kite used is a simple 28 inch or
larger boy's kite made preferably of silk
with the usual ragtail to which are added
a few wine bottle corks to make the kite
float should it fall into the sea.

The kite is allowed about seven hundred
feet of old fishing line from off a reel, and
then the fisherman's line is tied to the kite

FISHING WITH KITE AND SLED 107

line about twenty feet from the bait with
a piece of cotton twine. The kite is then
given more Kne in order to place the bait
at the proper distance from the launch.

The launch then travels across the wind
or tacks down wind, the boatman adjust-
ing the speed and direction so as to make
the flying-fish bait skitter along the sur-
face and jump from wave to wave, which
action the fisherman can aid with his rod.

The boatman manoeuvres the boat so
that the bait passes ahead of the school of
fish or through the school if so inclined.
The bait being well to leeward the fish are
not disturbed or frightened by the launch.

When a tuna takes the bait the cotton
line breaks and the kite is reeled in or falls
into the sea according to the direction in
which the hooked fish travels.

Many fish have been captured by this
means which could not otherwise be per-
suaded to take.

Some of the boatmen at Avalon have
become artists in kite fishing for it is not

108 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

as simple as it reads, as the kite must fly
steadily and the bait be kept moving in a
natural manner, for although it is easy to
fool some fish sometimes it is not easy
to fool all the fish all the time.

For a kite to fly, there must be wind and
wind of the proper weight. It must not
blow too light nor too heavy, for in the
latter case it is difficult to keep the bait on
the surface of the water.

In order to flnd a substitute for the kite
the wise men of the Tuna Club put their
heads together and invented or adapted
sled fishing. I say adapted, for poachers
in Great Britain have for years used a sled
in some fast running streams in order to
place a shrimp or bunch of worms in mid-
stream so as to steal other people's salmon
and trout.

The sled used at Catalina is a roughly
made boy's sled about three feet long with
solid runners well tipped up in front. The
top of the sled instead of being solid has
two crossboards about six inches wide and

FISHING WITH A KITE

FISHING WITH KITE AND SLED 109

six inches apart screwed on to the runners
at a shght slant so that the sled will not
bury but will ride the waves. A strong
eyebolt is screwed through each top board
and down into the nigh runner and these
are joined by a light but strong rope.

To this rope one hundred or more feet of
light cotton rope is attached at about one
third of the length of the sled from the fore
end of the runner. For instance, in a
three foot sled it would be made fast one
foot from the fore end. The baited line is
tied as in kite fishing at whatever distance
you may choose from the sled. The lead-
ing line is then payed out eighty or one
hundred feet and made fast to the mast,
the higher up the better to keep the belly
of the line from dragging in the water.

The launch is then started at a good
pace and as soon as the leading line be-
comes taut the sled races along abreast
of the boat in gallant style and the bait
skitters and bounds from wave to wave.

When a fish strikes, your line pulls free

110 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

but the impetus of the sled is such that
the fish seldom escapes being hooked.

The sled does not frighten the fish in the
least. Marlin have been known to follow
and strike it and yellowtail to chase in hot
pursuit.

By this method the boatman can place
the bait wherever it is wanted.

In yellowtail fishing the bait can be
trolled along the edge of the kelp, which the
yellowtail frequent, and this cannot be
done by ordinary means as the kelp fouls
the propellor of the launch.

These methods of fishing are full of
movement and are most amusing as well
as successful ways of taking both tuna and
yellowtail.

^B^

FISHING WITH A SLED

PARD

THIS DISH OF MEAT IS TOO GOOD FOR ANY BUT
ANGLERS, OR VERY HONEST MEN."

Walton

PARD

NOT much is known of Pard's pedigree
except the fact that his mother was a bull-
bitch and that he was brought as a puppy
to Avalon and believed to be a clean bred
bull-pup. But when his owner saw him
grow up a nondescript he abandoned him
and the dog became ''Shorty's" Pard.

If I can trust my eyes his father was a
foxhound and a good one, for few dogs
have a better nose than Pard. ''Shorty's"
little nephew says: "Uncle 'Shorty's' feet
must smell strong and pleasant-like for
Pard can find him anywhere."

The dog must have a Teutonic ancestor
somewhere for his favorite food is Bologna
sausage. If you give him a nickel he will
trot off with it to the butcher's and return
with a paper parcel for you to open con-
taining five cents' worth of Bologna.

In the summertime Avalon is crowded

113

114 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

and everyone knows Pard and the butcher
does a thriving trade in Bologna, yet he
tells me Pard is his only customer as the
island is strongly pro-Ally. When Pard is
not hungry he collects nickels all the same
and deposits them in ''Shorty's" locker on
the wharf.

I never saw him refuse money on shore
but nothing can persuade him to look at a
coin when on board the launch.

One morning as I was going to breakfast
at Joe's Restaurant I met the dog and
gave him his usual nickel and was surprised
to see him follow me into the restaurant
and slip into the kitchen with the first
waiter who passed through the swinging
doors. In a few moments he reappeared
with a mutton bone which he had pur-
chased from the cook. It was Sunday
morning and, without going to look, Pard
knew the butcher's shop was closed!

"Shorty" is a pubhc fisherman. In sum-
mer he takes sportsmen fishing and in win-
ter he fishes for the market. On all these

PARD RECEIVING A NICKEL

PARD 115

trips Pard acts as first mate, and there is
little that he does not know about fish and
fishing.

"Shorty" tells me that in the winter
he has an alarm-clock to call him at
four o'clock in the morning but that Pard
seldom fails to paw his arm a few moments
before the alarm sounds.

He has never been known to forget his
good manners on board the boat though
stormbound for forty-eight hours, and he
will not drink a drop of water even in the
warmest weather until he reaches land.
Pard reasons as well as thinks.

Pard has but two dislikes; one is wasps,
the other bull-dogs. He snarls and snaps
at the former and pounces upon the latter.
He knows he is the son of a bull-bitch but
evidently does not like to be reminded of
the fact.

Last winter Avalon was partly destroyed
by fire, and the moving picture people in
Los Angeles saw a great opportunity to
stage a scene for "Civilization" called

116 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

" After the Battle." '' Shorty " represented
a dead French soldier being watched over
by his faithful dog. The widow appears
searching for her dead husband. She sees
their dog and falls fainting upon her dead
spouse. Pard objected to this and the
battle began again. The dead French sol-
dier was obliged to sit up and stop the
fight. The film was a failure.

Pard can see a swordfish at a great dis-
tance, and whenever I was hooked to one
would sit up beside me and attempt to tell
me how to fight the fish and became
greatly excited when the fish jumped.
When a fish was gaffed he played the
"Chocolat act" by rushing about all over
the boat attempting to do nothing.

For intelligence and common sense Pard
has few equals among canines. He is
almost human.

PARD RETURNS FROM THE BUTCHER'S

IV
THE HYPHENATED "AMERICA"

THE HYPHENATED "AMERICA"

THE yacht ''America" was hyphenated
foF some years, for although the gilded
American eagle, which now hangs on the
wall at the New York Yacht Club, still
graced her stern, the cross of St. George
was proudly flying at the end of her main
gaff.

She had passed into English hands.

When in August, 1851, Commodore
Stevens found that, as her superiority was
so apparent, it was impossible to arrange
any more races for the "America," he ac-
cepted an offer of £5000 for her, and she
became the property of Lord de Blaquiere.

The new owner, not satisfied with the
vessel as he found her, stiffened her with
iron braces, cut five feet off her spars, and
changed her rig, in this manner altering
her trim and damaging her speed, for she
was beaten in the summer of 1852 by both

119

120 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

the ''Arrow" and the "Mosquito," two
very able cutters of renown.

They had been building very smart
schooners for some years in Sweden, and
the Swedes had followed the career of the
"America" with great interest. In the
winter of 1851-2 they built a schooner
some 72 tons larger than the "America,"
adopting and exaggerating many of the
latter's characteristics, and produced the
yacht "Sverige" of 280 tons British regis-
try, with which they challenged the
"America" to sail a match for £100.

The race was sailed from Ryde Pier to
a mark 20 miles to leeward of the Nab
light and return. The "Sverige," owing to
her larger spread of canvas, arrived at the
outer mark 8 minutes, 26 seconds, ahead
of the "America," but in turning to wind-
ward on the journey home carried away the
jaws of her main gaff and seems to have
been lost in the fog off the Nab, for the
"America" won the race by 26 minutes.

After this performance Lord de Bla-

THE HYPHENATED AMERICA 121

quiere was unable to find another com-
petitor although he challenged the world.
He cruised in the Mediterranean, and the
"America" proved to be very seaworthy
for she rode out a four days' gale in the
Bay of Lyons.

Lord Templeton became the next owner
of the "America" and, after sailing her
one season, laid her up at Cowes in 1854
where she remained until 1859. In that
year she was hauled out at Pitcher's yard
at Northfleet, near Gravesend, and it was
found that she was going to pieces owing
to lack of care. Lord Templeton believed
that she was beyond repair and sold her
for a mere song to Pitcher who rebuilt her
completely at his leisure. The work must
have been well done and the materials
used of the best quality for she does not
seem to have been rebuilt again until in
1880 in Boston.

It was at this time — 1859 — that the
golden eagle that ornamented her stern
was removed and sold to a publican at

122 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

Ryde where it served as the sign of the
Eagle Hotel until 1912 when it was ac-
quired by the Royal Yacht Squadron who
presented it to the New York Yacht Club.

The "America" was purchased in 1860
by Mr. H. C. Decie who changed her name
to "Camilla," raced her in English waters,
and cruised in her in the West Indies.

The next time we hear of the yacht she
is at Savannah, but it is not known by
whom she was owned. Her name had been
changed again, for she had become a block-
ade runner under the name of "Memphis"
and mounted one gun. She did great ser-
vice in this capacity for some months, for
she could sail faster than most of the block-
ading fleet could steam. On one occasion,
it is said, she was chased by U. S. S.
"Wabash" but escaped.

When the "Ottawa" was on her way up
the St. John's River in April, 1862, for the
purpose of attacking Jacksonville, she saw
the spars of a sunken schooner which, on
investigation, proved to be the blockade

THE HYPHENATED 'AMERICA 123

runner, "Memphis." She was raised and
turned over to the government for the use
of the midshipmen at Annapohs. Her
name "America" was restored, and she be-
came the pride of the Academy and was
manned by midshipmen, who kept her
spick and span and cruised in her for years.
She was re-rigged and raced by the Navy
Department at the time of the first de-
fence of the cup in 1871.

After the cup races that year she was
sold at auction to General Benjamin F.
Butler for $5000. He cruised on her in
the West Indies and sailed her in two
matches,, beating both the "Resolute" and
the "Alarm."

In 1880 she was rebuilt and modernized
by Edward Burgess, the most talented
yacht designer of the day, and although
her rig was changed and she was given
more canvas, she was no match for the
modern schooners "Gitana," "Fortuna,"
and "Mohican." She was raced for the
last time in 1885.

124 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

The career of the ''America" has been
an extraordinary one, for she revolution-
ized the art of yacht designing in Europe
and taught many lessons as to rigging and
sails. She has sailed under three different
flags, and under three different names, and
proved that, besides being the fastest
sailer of her day, she was equally efficient
as a cruiser, for she has weathered many
a storm.

It is sixty-five years since she was
launched, but she is still afloat and Mr.
Butler Ames of Boston is her proud owner
and refuses to part with her.

The cup which she won in England in
1851 is known as the "America's Cup" and
has become an international challenge cup
and the most valued of all yachting
trophies.

JACK LONG, THE BOATSWAIN

JACK LONG, THE BOATSWAIN

ALTHOUGH the average American youth
is well grounded in what happened during
the American Revolution, he seems to
know but httle of what took place during
the War of 1812. It was a small war,
according to the present standard, yet it
is well worth studying, for we are today
comparatively just as unprepared against
attack as we were one hundred years ago
when England landed troops in the Chesa-
peake and with little difficulty succeeded
in occupying Washington. She destroyed
the Navy Yard, the unfinished Capitol,
which contained the Library of Congress,
and burned the President's house, the
Treasury, and much private property.

What makes it especially interesting at
the present time is the fact that the war
was chiefly caused by England's assumed
right of search on the high seas.

127

128 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

Her impositions began as far back as
1798, for in that year the U. S. S. "Balti-
more" was overhauled by a British squad-
ron and five Americans were impressed
from the crew.

We had our fill of troubles at the time
for we were engaged in a sort of war with
France, and shortly afterwards had a
quarrel with Tripoli as well.

In 1807 the "Chesapeake," while cruis-
ing ofiF the shore of Maryland with a green
crew on board, was fired upon by the
British ship "Leopard" and so badly dam-
aged that she had to haul down her flag.
Four American born seamen were taken
out of the crew and sent on board the
Englishman, for it was claimed that the
sailors were deserters from the English
navy.

The indignation of the American people
was roused to fever heat by this outrage.

Napoleon about this time closed the
ports of France to American vessels, and
the French men-of-war undertook to stop

JACK LONG, THE BOATSWAIN 129

our merchantmen at sea and take from
them what they desired, and, as the
Enghsh were taking our seamen at the
same time, the condition of our merchant
marine became unbearable.

The navy of the United States at that
period consisted of five frigates, one cor-
vette, two sloops-of-war, three brigs, four
schooners, and two bomb ketches. It
seemed Hke madness to challenge the vast
fleet of Great Britain yet we did and we
won four well-fought engagements with
British war vessels the first year. The
"Constitution" captured the "Guerriere,"
the ''Wasp" captured the "Frolic," the
"United States" compelled the "Mace-
donian" to strike her colours, and the
"Constitution" finished the glorious record
of the year by destroying the "Java" oS
the coast of Brazil.

In 1813 Perry won the battle of Lake
Erie and sent his celebrated message to
the President: "We have met the enemy
and they are ours."

130 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

But this success could not continue; our
navy was too greatly outnumbered. By
October, 1813, we did not have a single
ship to protect our seacoast. The *' Presi-
dent" and "Essex" were far away at sea
and the other craft that had not been cap-
tured were blockaded at Norfolk and at
other parts.

The war was continued by our priva-
teers. Over three hundred prizes were
taken by them during the first year of the
war. The "Revenge," "Eagle," "Atlas,"
"Teazer," "Decatur," "Comet," and a
host of others made themselves known and
feared and became household words. Their
impudence was astounding.

They were modeled for speed and could
show a clean pair of heels to the fastest
cruisers or fight out of all proportion to
their size. They took many risks and
many paid the penalty for their rashness,
but there were always others to take their
places.

By 1814 the privateers swarmed from

JACK LONG, THE BOATSWAIN 131

the English Channel to the China sea.
The Annual Register recorded it, as a most
mortifying reflection, that with a navy of
nearly a thousand ships of different sizes
it was not safe for a British vessel to sail
from one port of the English Channel to
another.

During all this sea fighting the impressed
American sailors were lashed and put in
irons for refusing to fight against their own
countrymen. It was not long before 2500
of these poor fellows were lodged in Dart-
moor prison for their obstinacy, and the
number was added to by the prisoners of
war taken from the captured American
vessels.

There were two sloops-of-war belonging
to America during the war of 1812 named
"Wasp" and they both did great service.

The first "Wasp" left the Delaware on
the 13th of October, 1812, commanded by
Captain Jones. On the 17th several sails
were reported close at hand. Jones stood
straight for them and noticed that one of

132 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

the vessels was a sloop-of-war that was
evidently guarding six sailing craft.

The ''Wasp" being to windward swung
off to lessen the distance. As the strange
brig came nearer she unfurled the Spanish
flag, but Jones knew well by the way she
was carrying sail that she must be British.

The vessels sailed side by side, nearing
one another, and eventually the red-
coated marines could be seen on the
stranger's deck. When they were close
together Captain Jones hailed. Down
came the colours of Spain and up went
the British Ensign. The fight began at
once and in earnest. The American being
slightly in advance fell off her course,
crossed her enemy's bow, and raked her
at close range. The British fire was high
and crippled the yards and braces of the
"Wasp" so that she could be handled with
difficulty. Captain Jones decided to board
the Britisher at once and gave orders to
wear ship. His vessel answered her helm
slowly and, paying off, the vessels collided

JACK LONG, THE BOATSWAIN 133

and hung together. The "Wasp" let go
a broadside which raked the Enghshman
fore and aft. Jack Long, the boatswain,
seized a cutlass and leaped aboard the
enemy alone. When the men, leaving the
guns, followed him they found him gazing
at a lone wounded man at the wheel. The
decks had been swept clean of life. On
going aft they found two wounded officers
who surrendered.

When the two vessels were separated
their rigging was so badly damaged that
their masts went by the board. While the
crew of the "Wasp" was attempting to
fit a jury rig on their vessel, after having
abandoned the "Frolic," as the Britisher
seemed to be in an unsea worthy condition,
they spied a sail which proved to be the
British seventy-four "Poitiers," which not
only retook the "Frolic," but also put a
prize crew on the helpless "Wasp" and
convoyed them both to Bermuda,

There was trouble for Jack Long for he
was recognized as having once been im-

134 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

pressed into the English navy and having
escaped; he was therefore classed as a de-
serter. He was put in irons and shipped
on a troopship to England and imprisoned
at Dartmoor.

He was from Gloucester and had been
to sea since a boy. He was twenty-five
years old at the time of his second capture
by the British, and was as fine a specimen
of a New England fisherman as one could
see, standing six feet one and weighing two
hundred pounds of clean bone and muscle.

He was celebrated as the best rough and
tumble fighter in Gloucester-town and the
hero of many a bout.

Dartmoor prison was situated in the
county of Devon, fifteen miles northeast of
Plymouth, in an uneven, barren country
seventeen hundred feet above the level of
the sea and separated from mankind by
miles of granite and black bog. It con-
sisted of seven prisons each calculated to
contain fifteen hundred prisoners who were

JACK LONG, THE BOATSWAIN 135

guarded by two thousand militia and two
companies of royal artillery.

The prisons were of stone and sur-
rounded by two circular walls, the outer
one measuring one mile in circumference
and enclosing an area of fifty acres. Upon
the inner wall were military walks for sen-
tinels which were hung with bells on wires
and flanked by guardhouses on the north,
east, and south sides.

There were three separate yards which
communicated with each other through a
passage one hundred and twenty feet long
and twenty feet broad, guarded by iron
bars and closed by numerous iron gates.

Opposite this passage was the market
square capable of containing five thousand
people. The market was open every day
except Sunday from eleven to two and the
country people came with fuel, vegetables,
poultry, butter, and smuggled spirits and
tobacco to trade with the prisoners.

At sunset at a given signal the prisoners
were obliged to retire to their quarters

136 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

where they were locked up until the fol-
lowing morning.

The prison had been built during the
Napoleonic wars for French prisoners and
to them were now added the American
maritime prisoners and impressed seamen
who refused to bear arms against their
country.

When Jack Long reached Dartmoor he
found five thousand prisoners there and a
motley crew they were.

The industrious prisoners were allowed
to work at plaiting straw and picking
oakum, and in this way could earn sixpence
a day which they spent in the market, for
the prison fare was scant and poor.

As was to be expected in such a medley
of soldiers and seafaring men the prison
was infested by a gang of lazy rufiians who
would not work and who preyed on their
more industrious fellows and insisted upon
being supphed by them with grog and to-
bacco. They had improvised a fife and
drum corps with which, after carousing,

JACK LONG, THE BOATSWAIN 137

they would parade through the prison
yards to the annoyance of their working
mates.

Jack Long went to work picking oakum,
for having Hved an active Kfe he found the
time passed slowly without employment.

One afternoon as he was sitting on his
little bench hard at work he heard the
discordant music of the fife and drum ap-
proaching and was surprised to see all the
workers jump up and, removing their
benches, stand by the wall to allow the
drunken procession to pass. He never
moved and was tumbled over and his
bench kicked to one side by the leader of
the gang, a giant of a man with a brutal
face. Jack jumped to his feet and rushed
at his assailant but a dozen strong arms
held them apart.

The bully was a renegade Irish-American
named Short who had been at Dartmoor
for two years and well knew the customs
of the place. No quarrels were allowed
among the prisoners, but they were per-

138 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

mitted to settle their grievances accord-
ing to the London Prize Ring rules, for
prize fighting was in great vogue at the
time.

The bully's remarks, accompanied by
the unprintable seafaring epithets of the
day, were: "My name is Short and short
work will I make of you, my hearty." To
which Jack replied, "Short work is it — you
will find it a Long battle in more ways
than one, you big bully."

It was at once arranged that they were
to meet in the early morning and settle
the matter according to custom. The news
soon spread and Jack Long met with much
sympathy, for Short had defeated all
comers in the ring since he had been at
Dartmoor and his bad reputation was so
well known that the prisoners all feared
him. Jack told them not to worry and
assured them that he had never been
downed in a rough and tumble fight and
that he had no fears.

After making his arrangements for the

JACK LONG, THE BOATSWAIN 139

meeting he slept soundly, undisturbed by
what might happen on the morrow.

They met the following morning, in the
ring prepared in the market-place, attended
by a vast number of prisoners as well as
soldiers, whose scarlet uniforms along the
top of the inner wall made a frame to the
picture.

The seconds and bottle holders were
fellow prisoners but the referee was a ser-
geant of the guard, a lover of the manly
art of self-defense.

When the men entered the ring it was
seen that Short had at least twenty-five
pounds the best of the weight. From the
waist up he looked like a very Hercules,
but from the waist down he showed dis-
proportions, for the two years he had been
confined at Dartmoor had not improved
his condition, but no disproportion was
sufficient to mar the perfection of the
development of the upper part of his body.
He wore a belt of light green for his colours.

When Jack Long stepped into the ring

140 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

his belt of red, white and blue encircled a
trunk devoid of everything but bone and
muscle, and as he stripped and showed his
clear, clean skin he was greeted by the
cheers of those who recognized the athlete
in fighting condition.

That Short was out for blood was shown
as the men jumped to the center of the
ring, for he was the aggressor.

Round 1

As if transformed Short sprang forward
and banged at Long's chin with his left.
Without losing an instant Long dropped his
head forward and to the right and shot
out his left at Short's jaw. Both blows
missed. Long grabbed his man by both
shoulders, backheeled him and threw him.
The whole thing was done so quickly that
the spectators hardly realized that the
battle had begun. The round lasted just
five seconds. Short looked much aston-
ished as he retired to his corner.

JACK LONG, THE BOATSWAIN 141

Round 2

Long came forward with a confident look
on his face and Short looked puzzled. The
men eyed each other for a couple of seconds
and Short led with his left for Long's ribs,
but was neatly countered. They clinched.
Short securing an underhold but breaking
away to save himself. They sparred for
a few seconds when Short clinched, cross-
buttocked his man, and threw him. Time
thirty seconds.

Round S

Short started in to hug his opponent as
soon as time was called, being evidently
distressed from the exertions of the last
round. Long unwrapped his arm, pushed
him away, sparred for just one second, and
then knocked Short down with a blow on
the cheek. Time thirty seconds.

Round Jf.
This was short and sweet. Although
the giant seemed tired he stuck to his work
and managed to end the round with much

142 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER

credit to himself for he threw Long fairly
and squarely. Time five seconds.

Round 5

There was a httle fiddHng and then Long
drove his left straight into Short's jaw. A
clinch, a breakaway, and Jack made an-
other lead but missed. This was followed
by rushing tactics on the part of both
fighters. It was give and take on both
sides. Short then kept out of the way
and it became a walking match instead of
a fight as the big man refused to face his
opponent. At last they clinched, Long
falling heavily on his antagonist. Time
ten minutes.

The fight went on for twenty rounds.
First one and then the other seemed to
have the best of it, but condition began to
tell and Short, being distressed, would fall
from the slightest touch to save punish-
ment.

In the twenty-sixth round Short re-
treated all around the ring but Long fol-

JACK LONG, THE BOATSWAIN 143

lowed him up closely, caught him as he
was turning and off his balance, and struck
him on the corner of the jaw with a right
hand blow straight from the shoulder
which knocked him down and out for,
failing to rise, the second threw up the
sponge.

The result was most popular, for the
bully that all had feared had been fairly
beaten by a better man. Long was car-
ried about the marketplace and from
prison yard to prison yard accompanied
by the fife and drum corps and cheered by
his admirers, and even the boon com-
panions of the defeated bully were anxious
to make friends with the new champion.

He remained the champion of the prison
until the following year, when, being in the
good conduct squad, he was exchanged
with others for some British prisoners of
war and returned to Gloucester and the
more peaceful hfe of New England.