Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1885-01-30

DNEDtlNu ION
Men ofthe Pungies, and Iheir
Methods Of Work.
Hardships Of Those who Bring the Tooth
some Oyster from His Bed
Each pungy engaged in dredging
for oysters is provided with two
dredges. They are iron instruments,
with chain netting made in the
form of pocket. The mouths of
these pockets are provided with teeth
for scrapng up the oysters The
dredges have ropes attached to them
which are fastened to iron winders
placed anidships on both the port and
starboard sides of the vessel These
Winters are iron in... provided with
cranhs They are securely fastened
to the decks The dredger loves a
stiff breeze He cannot work to ad-
vantage without it, and if it blows
half gale he likes it the better. When
the boat reaches the place where it is
proposed to work the two dredges are
thrown overheard and hauled along
the bottom by the vessel. Each
dredge Withhold two and a half bushels
OF oysters, but they are rarely drawn
up full, except on an especially fine
bed. The speed desired by the dredger
IS two miles an hour The sails are
therefore trimmed to keep this speed.
-Four men are required at each winder.
When the dredge is supposed to have
oysters in it four men seize the two
iron eranks of the winder and begin
The laborious task Of winding the rope
around the cylinder until the dredge is
drawn up. 1t is hard work, tell you,
and often very cod. Sometimes the
crank may feel like fire and take the
SKIN off the hands. Every drop Of
water which strikes the decks and
clothing Of the men may be freezing,
but they have got to work all the
same, Oysters sell better in cold
weather, and that is the time to catch
them. The captain takes part with
his men His place is at the tiller to
sCeer and have general direction of the
Doat Woe to the men at the cranks
"heh The ropes slip or the dredges
strike a snag on the bottom. The
cranks arc snatched from the men and
iy around with lightning speed, often
resulting in broken arms, legs and
lacerate .acpSes. once saw a crank
iit ccnld have ,]s boeo mead ,,t on OF a,
saw. Accidents from the crank are
frequent There is not day passes
but some poor fellow on the oyster
grounds receives wOund from it.
The dredge boats go out from the
harbors where they spend the nights,
at very early hour in the morning,
and work as long as they can see in
the evening They stop for no weather
except heavy gale or furious snow
storm. They will often work in
young hurricane under a windward (
shore, when they can only carry lit
tie piece Of mainsail and jib, The T
men are compelled to be on deck in all
kinds of weather and work like beav-
ers. They get soaked with rain ana
have their clothes freeze on them.
They sometimes have their ears, noses,
hands and feet nearly eaten off by the
frost and have to put up with uncom-
Portable sleeping quarters at night.
AS many of them have not got
change of clothing, they lie down in
their frozen garments at night and
thaw out. So this process Of freezing
during the day and thawing out at
night gves on and it is no wonder that
many of them die Of pneumonia and :
other maladies incident to so rough a i,
life. 1t too often happens that when .
man gets sick he is put ashore at
some point by his captain without
money, and left to shift for himself as
best he can. Bat on the other hand,
some of these fellows who come to the :.
city witt, such tales are deserters from
their vessels. The only time that :
dredgers have picnic is during the :
prevaloncoof a stosa- 50 violent that "
the boats aecompelled 70 lay in har- :
Dor. Theme then lay about the cab
ins and forecastle smoking, sleeping
and drinking, if they can get the p
liquor. Thetood on the dredge boats la
is coarse, but substantial. They have T
coffee. S5Ined beef; pork, bread and R
cabbage. They also have soup.
The pay Of hand on these vessels tt
is about SIS to $40 per month. Some pc
few experienced dredging hands will m
get as high as $50 and $40 per month. ed
Sometimes the crew agree to work on cl
shares and divide the proceeds Of the W
yessel-Ioaddoysters among themselves "
as stipulated in Their agreement OF
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