Smyrna times., 1886-01-20
BADLY Used Ovstermen.

On Saturday afternoon a company
of nine Oystermen reached Clayton,
used up from hunger and exposure,
and unable to go further, (the open
car they had secured a ride in being
dropped at Clayton instead of going
through as they expected), they made
their way into this town to secure the
shelter of a police station. The best
that was offered them was the lookup,
without fire and sufficient blankets to
cover them. Their condition attracted
the attention of J. Frank Pratt, Chas.
B. Peregoey, Carl w. Willumsen and
J. p. Jones, who, moved by pity, pro-
ceeded at once to collect money to pro-
vide for their comfort until Monday,
and in a short time they had raised the
sum of $16.4O. With this board and
lodging was secured at the house of l.
K. ShOrtman, with something left over
for incidentals. This act of thought
fulness and kindness on the part of our
fellow tOwnsmen, was a praisewOrthy
one, deserved in every way, as the fol-
lowing story told US by one of the party
whose name is Frederic Fredericks, of
Cattawissa, Pa, will show:
The company of nine, all of whom
were Germans but himself were from
three different crews. The severity of
the storm that came with the cold wave
drove them from the fishing rocks of
Tangier Sound to the shelter of
Sharks Point, off from Crisfield. Here
the ice made fast and solid out to
where the pungies were anchored.
When once on the oyster boats, they
are not allowed to get Off and there is
no way of escape only by swimming,
for when they come near enough to the
land to anchor and the captain goes
ashore, he takes the yawl with him.
But the ice in this case furnished them
the desired means of escape, some of
the party escaping on Monday night,
others on Tuesday, and our narrator
and companion from his boat, com
manded by Captain Blake at dayb
Wednesday, while mate Holland, who
was left in charge, was still asleep.
They made their way through the
swamps as best they could in keeping
away from Crisfeld (where they might
have been capturedl until they struck
the railroad, up which they walked un-
! til they came to Greenwood, where
they boarded the car that dropped
! them here Two of these bitter cold
nights were spent in the woods where
they slept around fire that was made
of such materials as they could gather
| together, and another in a saw mill.
1t was in this condition, foot-sOre, hun
CRY and penniless that they reached
town. They left on Monday for Bal
timOre, greatly recuperated where
they will make their complaint before
| shipping master Rogers and secure
their five months pay ifpOssible. Their
! ground of complaint will be bad treat
ment. Mr.. Fredericks, who had for
merly for Il time acted as brakesman
on the Reading Railroad and was in
duced to try oystering for a season be-
cause he was out of employment, gave
a very interesting account of the oys-
ter dredging business, He shipped for
the season, FIVE months, but the most
of the others only for one month, but
it is all the same when once on the
boat they cannot get off until the sail
ing master is disposed, which is usually
not until their services are no longer
needed. The wages are from $1Oto $I5
month. The paper he signed was for
SO a month, but when he got on the
boat it was $40. They have no means
of procuring anything from the shore /;
the captains, however, who take out a
license, have a stock of clothing and
such things as are likely to be needed,
on hand, and furnish them Il poor arti-
Gle at double the price they can be
bought for on shore. The work is
hard, the wear and tear accordingly,
| rhaa bo 10 l,r
terman finds the charges of the captain
about cover his wages and he has little
or nothing to carry away with him but
the memory of his hardships.
Their work commences about four
o'clock in the morning and lasts
until dark. Kicks and stripes are
abundant to keep them up when they
grow weary with their hard toll, and
but for the rest and sleep that Sunday
affords, he says they could not
keep up to the work demanded. Be
sides, the grub in many cases is of the
poorest Order,-NO. 3 mackerel bean
soup, fat meat, bread and mOlasses
with rarely a smell of butter.
According to the message of Gov
Lloyd, at the late opening Of the leg
islature there are over 10000 persons
engaged in the oyster interest in diff
ferent ways in the waters of Mary.
land it can hardly better the case that
the experiences of all are on a par with
these, aud yet at the best, the life must
be a hard one. Our informant says
that during the late storm before they
went to the shore he saw a man iumT
overheard where it was impossible tC
save him, for no other reason that he
could see but to escape from his hard
ships. One of the Germans that spent
Sunday here was q man who had been
educated for priest, but stopped be
fore finishing his education, spoke sew
eral languages, but very little English
was perhaps taken" into the oyster
business as many others are, for brie
employment and required to endure
what the others did because he could
not help himself