Capt. John Smith led two exploratory voyages in Chesapeake Bay during the summer of 1608. His boat ran aground at the mouth of the Rappahannock River, three miles east, on 17 July. While awaiting high tide to float the vessel, he and his men impaled fish with their swords, and Smith speared a cow-nose ray that sank its tail spine into his wrist as he tried to remove it. The toxin swelled Smith’s arm, shoulder, and chest, but surgeon Walter Russell applied soothing oil and by evening Smith was well enough to eat the ray for supper. He named the place Stingray Point.
