Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1884-04-11
How Oysters Are Caught.

Only two ways of catching oysters are
practiced in Maryland, namely, "drcdg-
ing" and longing" Dredges are bags
made of iron rings linked together,
forming meshes similar to those of
an ordinary seine, the mouth being
held open by an iron frame,
from the four corners of which |
project four iron bars converging to
point at a distance of few feet from the
mouth; to this point q small chain is
attached, and joined to the chain is long
rope, which winds around a windIass on
board of the oyster vessel. Projecting
downward from the bar attached to the
lower edge of the mouth are iron teeth,
which, .as the dredge is drawn over the
bottom, scrape up the oysters and guide
them into the bag. Every vessel is
supplied with two dredges and two wind
lasses, the latter so arranged that each is
worked by four men at the same time.
When the boat reaches dredging ground
the dregdes are thrown overheard and the
vessel continues on her course until it is
supposed that the dredge, which usually
holds two or three bushels, in full, and
then it is hauled up and its contents,
consisting of oysters, stones, shells, crabs,
fish, ETC., are emptied on the deck. If the
vessel has passed across the bar, she tacks
and recrosses the ground, and continues
sailing over the same bar for hours
If dredging is done in the daytime the
oysters are at once ''culled, but when
working at night it is deferred until
morning. "Culling" consists in separ-
ating the oysters from the other things
brought up by the dredge and throwing
the latter overheard, while the former
are placed in the hold of the vessel. In
this manner the work continues until the
vessel is loaded when she at once pro-
ceeds to market. A trip will generally
take about twelve Or thirteen days.
"Tonging" is a method of taking oys,
ters extensively practiced. In Maryland
it employs fewer men and less capital
than dredging, but it is probably of
greater value to the State, as them en-
ployed in it are of better class. The
longing interests of Virginia are far more
extensive than the same interests in
Maryland.
Something of an idea of the "tongsn
may be got by supposing two garden
rakes, with very long handles, with the
/ tooth sides of the rakes facing each other;
| let the handles be secured by loose
rivit two or three feet from the teeth, so
that by operating the extreme ends of
the handles the whole contrivance shall
act as pair of tongS. The instrument
is so constructed that when the tong
handles or "stales" are held perpendicu-
lar to the bottom the teeth are at
an angle of forty-fve degrees, and by
working the upper end OF the stoles to-
gether above the water, at the same time
pressing the teeth against the bottom,
the oysters are raked together and may
be hoisted to the surface and emptied
into the boat. Wooden headed are
better than irop-headed tongs, because
they dig into the sand less, and are
easier to work. Tongs are used of from
seven to twenty-four feet in length, and
the latter, worked in twenty-one to
twenty-five feet Of water, require not
only considerable skill but good allow
ance of strength to handle with success.
These tongs are very ancient contriv-
ance in America, for Charlevoix, in the
middle of the seventeenth century, found
them on the coast of Acadia.
longing necessitates very great ex-
posure to the cold, but, however, no
more severe than dredging. The injury
to health is so great that few oyster-men
ever reach old age. Nor does oyster
longing give returns in proportion to the
labor expended. The element of chance
is large one. A clear, smooth water
permits the gathering in one day of what
may not be realized by weeks exertion
in tempestuous weather. On some Of
the shoals in the James river it would
be impossible to find space as large as
a pair Of tongs will cover without oysters
on it=lSt LoMia GL0le- Danaocrat