The extraordinary power of this fish is shown by the following
statement, from the Penny Magazine: "In repairing his Britannic
majesty's ship Leopard, in 1725, on her return from the coast of
Guinea, a sword of this fish was found to have gone through the
sheathing one inch, next through a three-inch plank, and, beyond that,
four inches and a half in the firm timber. It was the opinion of
mechanics that it would require nine strokes of a hammer weighing
twenty-five pounds to drive an iron bolt, of similar size and form, to
the same depth in the hull; yet this was accomplished by a single
thrust."