Word: man-of-war
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...over me, but emotionally I'm exhilarated," exulted Nyad between sips of champagne and whiffs of oxygen. The marathoner attempted the feat three weeks ago, but gave up after being stung by a Portuguese manofwar; this time she sprayed herself with latex, "prayed to the Portuguese man-of-war god," and proceeded to finish the 89-mile swim in 27 hrs. and 38 min. Now she will pursue her other goal: the 130-mile crawl from Cuba to the Florida Keys. If she succeeds, it will be her last lap. Says Nyad: "Where do you go after that...
Barbed Beads. Thus Joseph Goodman became the first American known to have died from man-of-war stings. Though he had had coronary artery disease, there was no sign that he had suddenly had a heart attack. Dr. Valone thinks that Goodman died of shock brought on by the man-of-war's poison...
...wonder is that there are not many more such deaths, for thousands of people are stung every year, some of them severely. In recent weeks, the sting rate got up to 400 or more a day in southeast Florida. Bulldozers buried a mass of man-of-war bodies daily, but so many more came in that some of the most popular beaches had to be closed...
Most victims step on the tentacles of a dying man-of-war washed up on the beach, and they get what feels like a scorpion sting. Several tentacles drawn across the legs feel like a lashing with red-hot wires, and may throw a healthy adult into shock by suddenly dropping his blood pressure. The extreme pain may last an hour, and dull pain for a couple of hours more. The welts persist for up to three months...
...Walker led his last expedition. This time Honduras was his target. Eluding a blockade of U.S. and British naval vessels, he landed with some 100 men, captured a small town and then fled into the jungle when a British man-of-war arrived. Twelve days later, a bone-tired Walker was captured by a British naval officer, handed over to Honduran authorities, court-martialed and shot. "Had he succeeded," says Truman, somewhat unconvincingly, "he might have made a successful contribution to the organization of the Central American situation, into which he wanted to include Cuba-all of which might have...