A swordfish harpoon is generally a 12-foot aluminum pole with a 3/8-inch diameter metal shank on the end to which a detachable barbed dart or “Lily Iron” is attached. A 12-foot pole is difficult enough to throw on dry land, let alone when you’re balancing on a stand, or “pulpit,” that extends 30 feet out from the bow of a moving boat.

To be a harpooner, or “striker,” you have to have a tall order of what Hemingway referred to as “grace under pressure.” According to Jonathan Mayhew of Chilmark, captain of Quitsa Strider II, “Good strikers have an inner calm, an ability to function in a highly pressurized situation. They’re sort of like the quarterback on the football team; there’s a lot riding on them.”

Especially these days.

Back in the sixties and seventies, it was not uncommon to harpoon ten or more fish a day. But since the advent of long-lining, a controversial commercial fishing technique that uses hundreds, or even thousands, of baited hooks on a single line, it’s possible for a harpooning boat like Quitsa Strider II to spend several days out at Georges Bank and only see one or two swordfish.

Clearly, it’s imperative to make every throw count.

It begins with maneuvering the boat into position. The wheel man, steering from aloft where he can get a good view, must somehow line up the boat so it approaches the fish with the wind, while keeping the sun at the striker’s back to minimize glare.

Todd Mayhew, Jonathan’s nephew and a striker on the Menemsha-based fishing boat Unicorn, explains, “The ideal place to strike the swordfish is just behind the dorsal fin. If the fish is on or near the surface [known as “finning,” “clipping,” or if it’s riding especially high, “horned out to the back”] you lead the target slightly. If the fish is swimming in deeper water you aim closer in, in order to allow for the effect of refraction in the water.”

For a right-handed person, the right hand is the power hand and it is cupped over the back of the harpoon. The left hand is held palm-up and is used to steady and guide the path of the harpoon.

Once the dart is lodged in the fish, it separates from the harpoon. The dart is connected to 100 fathoms of line (with a weight and marker buoy on it), which feeds out from the boat as the fish dives. After the fish tires itself out dragging the buoy and the weight, it’s easier to land. If the fish is too lively or “green,” you run the risk of pulling out the dart when you’re hauling him in. Not only that, back when fish were hauled in from a dory, it was not uncommon for a particularly active swordfish to run his bill through the bottom of the boat, otherwise known as “getting punched.”

Greg Mayhew, Jonathan’s brother and captain of the Unicorn, has fond memories of those halcyon days before long-lining. “Back then we had swordfish fever. It was great. I can remember returning home after a good trip, a big catch in the hold, relaxing, watching the sun setting on the ocean, and thinking…I can’t believe I actually get paid to do this.”