The sun., 1880-12-13
ON THE CHEsAPEIKE REDS.
The Tolls and Hardship. OF Maryland Oyste,
DredRers-Nnvni Combat..

Tho Toll. and Hardship. OF Maryland Oyster
DredEers-Navai Cemhats.
BALTIMORE, Dec. 12.-Nearly all the oyster
pungies arriving In port bear evidence. in the
condition OF their crews. OF the severity Of the
late cold snap. The United States Marine Hos
pital is being crowded with frost bitten dredg-
era. There are over thirty who have been sent
there during the past week. They arrive In q
pitful condition-hands and feet swollen. and
sometimes bursting from the effects OF FROST
Still larger numbers are being sent to Bay
View. the city almshouse. The law requires
payment OF hospital dues by masters Of punRies
in behalf OF their crew. and when this 10 done
the men have q right OF admission to the Marine
Hos ptal but it is often the that tho Captain
will certify at the Custom House for n crew OF
three or four. and will afterward ship half q
dozen more, for whom no dues are paid and
who. when brought back to the city sick and
disabled. are mere helpless paupers.
There is NO occupation in the world more la
borious or productive OF pain than oyster
dredging. The brackish waters OF the Chesa-
peako freeze rapidly over all shoals and bays
when cold snap comes The tolls Of the
dredgor then become tortures. The method OF
taking oysters from the prolific and imitlcss
beds Of the Chesapeake is simple. The dredges
which are simply iron bags with a projecting
under scoop attached, are dragged across the
oys,e beds by tho motion OF the vessel, and are
dredger is not working at the windlnss
ho is souaitod on deck bending over the oyster
heaps. culing them out. The shells OF the
oysters are generally covered with n parasitic
growth known rs dog stones" Tho conglom-
With with hammers 1S 81 shells shells. Sabias. % and Dp REUSE
thrown overheard. and the marketable oysters
are then run into the hold A. A fast as the
must be culed II is an occupation at best
about as interesting rs breaking stone. When
carried on in freezing wind; exposed to the
frozen spray. with sharp shell edges cutting
into sore hands. and grit and mud rubbing into
at he fnw i
more active. The skin sticks to the irons in
frosty weather, and tina hands stretched down
blood stains where they touch. For this work
the pay ranges from sl2 TO $40 month. with
Thus il is that the work OF dredger is looked
upon in Maryland as the worst that can fall to
the lot Of man. The extreme expression OF aver
sion with bay shore darkey IL for him TO say.
would rs lief dredge as do that"
There ID prevalent belief among the coored
population that punny captains kidnap stray
certainly is the case that captains make no in
quiry us to where their hands come from.
shipping masters get ~ apiece for them. Many
| a poor fellow has walked up from his drunken
| stupor to find. to his horror. that he was down
| the bay in n pungy. As n rule, the winllsss
| hands are tho poorest species OF tramps. Many
| Of them are picked np from among tho brick
| yaru hands VINO Hook into town when tho brlck-
making season is over.
Tns rigors OF the winter and the toilsome
| character Of the work are not the only things
| that make the dredger's lot hard onn. County
| interests pr"domnate in the LEGISLATURE and
| shape tho laws. The counties mostly favor
| longing above dredging. The toncer goes out
| in his skin over the oyster beds and with long
.tongs having rakes at thoir ends he loads
boat bnr in SarsI tho RSurT redss1 h%es WSs
drags across hs favorita beds. and takes away
oysters by the barrel ut haul The pupgies.
| rs the dredGers' boats are called. come almost
| wholly FROM Baltimore city Somerset County
| has quite fleet. but she has laws preserving to
their use the great oyster beds OF Tangier
| Sound. Tho other counties have had laws
passed securing to their tongmen respectively
Al the beds in their bays and river mouths.
| There is an oyster navy composed of one
steamer and seven sloops. nl armed. whose
| business is to enforce tho laws. Thus
tho best oyster grounds in tn" State are forbid
| den To the Baltimore dredg"rs. aud yet over
| fOur-llths Of the oysters brought to market are
taken upon those forbidden grounds. Great
| blnzs away from the shore at pirati"al punGies.
| and the oyster police boats manned by men from
ynG dSo pursue sue ef A1s. na SySry
| wounded. Jnils in the bay shorn counties nre
| filled with offending dredgers. Thus II Is that
| the worst weather is the best for the dredgers.
| When the oyster sloops betnke themselves to
some comfortable anchorage. tho dredgers
| work night ani day in forbidden waters.
| The men who man the pungies are however.
| rough set. who do notstirk ut rctaliattng when
| they have a chnnes and the waters OF the
|
| comDats furious in character. albeit on small
| scale. Last winter the Virginia Legislature
aSoon Of ihs Oyster navy Of that sie sbonl
| forty dredgers made raid upon tho liapua-
hammock longing beds. The tongers opened fro
| upon them. which they returned effectively.
| A number were wounded, and one tonGer was
| killed. For several weeks the dredgers held
| complete possession Of the beds the appearance
| Of the tongnen ut any time drawing forth IA VOL
| ley Of rifle shots. Finally, the Virginia Legis-
| lature. which was IN session. ordered that a
n M n tiTa .Ht4a n
| supply Of ammunition should be sent to the
tongmen; Bs'orethe munitions of war arrived.
| the plratlcai n"et had sailed away.
| Every session ofthe Maryland Legislature WITT
| nessss q renewai OF an ancient controversy be-
tween dredging and longing interests as to
| which works injury to the oyster beds. The
| tongers point to the depletion OF famous beds
as the result OF dredging. while dredgers hold
| that. without dredging. oysters HgglomeratG
| and become small and poor. The truth lies
midway. Unless scattered out evenly 10y the
dredge, oysters tend to ndhere together in great
| masses. There are parts Of the Chesapeake
| where there ure grent oyster cones rising up &c
! the surface III rough hfty or sixty ieot OF water
| On tho other hand. the sort of dredgc that i'm
| proves the beds by sprend ing oysters out so thai
| they may iatten is not the ponderous and
crushing Instrument used by the Baltimort
| contsnding interests Intelligent Legislation 1t
lost sight Of. Perhaps tho source of greates
depletion is the sale OF young oysters To north
ern oystermen. Loads Of babies " go from the
| Chesapeake" to every port on the Atlantic from
Norfolk 10 Portland. The best oysters thnt come
| to New York are the growth Of the young oysters
| obtained from the Chesapeake for bedding pur'
| poses. Thus tho recuperaton OF the Chesa'
| pcake beds is impaired. Hence. in the mos
prolific Oyster-producing waters in the world
where tides and currents ARE 80 gentle that the
oyster spat has the most favorable opp0rtuni.
ties OF survival and growth lnmous beds that
were once deemed ineXhHustible have b"com,
thin and poor The native beds. however, are still
immense in area, and abundant IN contents. anC
there liz yet ample time to save them from de
struction. The interests they now sustain arr
immense, The West and some Eastern markcu
|
canned oysters 20 all over the world.
Women for Municipal Oniecs.
TLn ., prnnrnsa Of ErnnlnnaM VIVA tha tltla q