The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1879-12-23
SponSes.

The sponge may be found in the varou
subtropical waters of tic world. Th,
principal sponging grounds of the United
States are the waters around Key Yves
and along the western coast of Florida
from Tampa Bay on the south to Pcnsacol,
on the northeast. The sponge schooner
have two places to clean their spongcs whcl
coast sponging. One at Anclotc KEYS, tn,
other at Rock Island. Or tho sponge ther,
is several varieties, classed according lt
their marketable value as "shcep wool,
"ycllow," ''foX glove" "grass,"- ETC.. be-
sides one class, "loggcrhcad, which ha,
no value, and is not thought worth picking
up. The tirst-nnmcd is the variety mostly
sought, as it bears the best market price.
The most of the vessels engaged in the
sponge trade arc owned and fitted out at
Key West. The outfit Of Il sponge schooner
consists in number of long poles with
hooks fastened on the end for gathering
and from three to seven small boats called
.'Dingys," from seven to fifteen men, will,
provisions from eight TO twelve weeks,
water glasses, &c. Having curiosity to
sec actual sponge gathering, last bright
morning found me aboard the schooner
"Sam1icr,' spinning towards the bars I;
but owing to light winds during the day
we did not arrive till after nightial The
next morning, however sponging COM
mcnced in earnest Shortly after sunrise the
'dingys," manned by two men each, with
water glasses, sponge hooks, etc, set of in
quest Of sponges. One Of the men in the
"dmyy' sculls the boat about here and
there, while the other, lying across the
boats thwart with his head in the water
glass, scans The bottom for spongcs The
water glass used by the spongcrs is moth
ing but common deep wooden pail, with
circular pane of glass for q bottom.
Placing this upright III the water, aud put
ting the head in far enough to exclude
most of the light, one can easily sec an
object on the bottom in six or seven faith
oms of water. The sponger, when he sees
a sponge, by the waving of his hand directs
the sculcr how to 20, and when in de-
sirable position lie thrusts his long pole
down and hooks his spongs. The vessels
usually remain out upon the bars from
Monday until Friday evening of each week,
coming into the Keys Friday night, in
order to clean the spongcs which they had
gathered tho week previous, put those gath
cred the present week into the crawls
put their wood and water on board,
and prepare for the next week. The spongcs
which they gather one week are put in
crawls or pens, made by driving posts into
tho sand, where, at low water, they will be
quite or almost dry. Here they are left
until the next Saturday TO be washed by
the tides. On the following Saturday they
arc clcansed by striking them one or two
light blows with q paddle. When the
spongcs arc cleaned, they arc taken aboard
the schooner and strung on Strings usually
about five and half feet long, when they
are thrown upon the beach 10 bleach and
dry. The number of vessels engaged in
sponging from Key West probably reaches
l2o, gathering sponges to the vallo of
about 100000 annually. Besides the
Key West schooners, we have about forty
or fifty fitted out from Cedar Keys aud
OglOckncY