The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1879-12-04
Searching for Sponges.

remember using sponges in my
school-boy days without a thought Of
whence they came, how obtained, or
their previous condition. Although,
little the sponges which we may find ex-
posed for sale in the drug stores and
other places look unlike animals, yet by
our naturalists they have been classed
with the lowest order Of the animal
species.
The sponge may be found in the vari-
Gus sub-tropical waters Of the world.
The principal. sponging GROUNDS Of the
United States are the waters around
Key West and along the western coast
of Florida, from Tampa bay on the
south TO Pensacola on the northeast.
The sponge schooners have two places to
clean their sponges when coast sponging
one at Anclote Keys, the other at
Rock Island.
OF the sponge, We have several varie-
ties, classed according to their marketa-
BILE value as "sheep WOOL" ''yellow,"
'fox glove" grass" ETC., besides one
class, the loggerhead," which has no
value, and is not thought worth picking
up. The first named is the variety
mostly sought, as it bears the best
market price. The most of the vessels
engaged in the sponge trade are owned
and fitted out at Key West. The outfit
of a sponge schooner consists in num-
Der 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--according to the
number of boats-with provisions for
from eight to twelve weeks water.
glasses, etc.
Having a curiosity to see actual
sponge gathering, last Monday morning
found me aboard the schooner Sanfler,
spinning towards the bars but owing to
light winds during the day we did not
arrive till after nightfall. Tuesday
morning, however, it commenced i'll
earnest Shortly after sunrise the "din-
gys," manned by two men each, with
water-glasses, sponge-hooks, etc, set of
in quest of sponges. One Of the men in
the "dingy" SOULS the boat about here
and there, while the other, lying across
the boats thwart with his head in the
glass, scans the bottom for sponges.
The water-glass used by the spongers is
nothing but a common deep wooden
pail, with circular pane of glass for a
bottom. Placing this upright in the
water, and putting the head in far
enough to exclude most Of the light, one
can easily see an object on the bottom in
or fathoms of water. The sponger,
when he sees a sponge, by the waving of
his hand directs the sculler how to go,
and when in a desirable position he
thrusts his long pole down and hooks
his sponge.
The vessels usually remain out upon
the bars from Monday until Friday of
each week, coming into Keys Friday
night, in order to clean the sponges
which they had gathered the week pre-
vious, put those gathered the present
week into the crawls, put their wood
and water on board, and prepare for the
| next week. The sponges which they
gather one week are put into crawls or
pens, made by driving posts into the
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 are cleansed by striking them one
or two light blows with a paddle. When
the sponges are cleaned, they are taken
aboard the schooner and strung on
strings usually about five and half feet
long, when they are thrown upon the
beach to bleach and dry.
The number of vessels engaged in
sponSng from Kew West probably
reaches 1875, gathering sponges to the
value of about 500 900 annually. Be-
sides the Key West schooners, we have
about forty or fifty fitted out from Cedar
Keys and Oglockney.