Absolution for Steve Roddenberry (9-9-09)

Fishing out of Key West in 1935, Ernest Hemingway hooked the same big shark three times while he and the President of the Maine Tuna Club were drifting baits back to big dolphin behind a dead boat. The first two times the shark was on old line (39 thread linen), and broke off, trailing line out of both sides of his mouth and looking for all the world like a giant catfish, according to Hemingway. The third time Hemingway switched to a 14/0 reel and new line, and managed to bring the shark, which either was very hungry or very dumb, to the boat. The mate leadered the shark, and Hemingway gaffed it. Then, holding the gaff in his left hand, Hemingway shot the shark with a .22 caliber automatic pistol held in his right hand, the effect of which was to energize the shark, rather than to dispatch him. As Hemingway waited for the thrashing shark to be still enough for a second shot, the wooden gaff broke with a loud crack. The gaff shaft struck Hemingway on the back of his right hand, and the noise of the gaff breaking so obscured the sound of the awaited second shot that no one, including Hemingway, was initially aware that it had been fired. The bullet struck a metal strip on the fish box in the stern and ricocheted. Fragments lacerated Hemingway's right calf, and the main bulk of the bullet hit him in the left calf, lodging so deeply that the doctor in Key West subsequently decided not to remove it. I think we can leave Steve Roddenberry's adventures with the gaff behind us now, as they seem to be pretty small beer all in all.