The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-06-05
"A CRUISE FOR CORAL.
BY AMOS CONES.

"ThatS handsome head OF rose coral
which you have there; very pretty bit
1t cost you about twelve dollars, didn't
ita And III wager the price of it that l
can tell you exactly where it came from.
Fact is, think I've been on the very
spot where it grew"
My old friend, Captain King, was
spending the evening with me, and after
dinner we were looking over my monde
script collections when the captains eye
happening to fall on this particular
specimen of coral, he had thus bantered
me as to its origin.
, ~ ou're little off on the price" l
said. "Ten dollars was what 1 gave.
Now where did it come from2"
"You think that shall say the South
Sea" responded my nautical friend, with
q chuckle, "or else the Caribbean, or the
Gulf of California; but l shan't. That
cluster of coral came from little group
of keys about thirty-five miles due
west from Key West, called the Markeys.
Am | wrong or rights"
was obliged to admit that he was
probably not far wrong. I had bought
1t of two "Conches, who own schooner
viii CT they run between New York and
the West Indies. The price they asked
VS. ufrven dollars, but they had sold it
dor,e.,, and had told me that it came
fr. n tie cinity of Hey West. "But
Il ce are no such islands or reefs as the
h .rkeys." added, consulting MAJ.
no, the map name is Marquesas Keys,
b It no one 1T >ej West ever speaks of
en- in that way. The fishermen and
! uters all say !Markeys Oh, l know
anont them for very good reason; l
" mt there after coral once myself"
'rrhcn thus specimen of mine was not
o bal barga at ten dollars, you think2"
~ good bargain. Really, it was
worth the fifteen dollars the dealer asked
for it. ,ou would say so yourself, I
fancy, if you had to dive in thirty
feet of water for it, and perhaps dive
twenty times before you got it up"
q, cry likely, captain. But bow came
You to 90 to the Markeys9 lou have
generally served n rather different ca.
Dscity from that OF diving for coral, if I
mistake not"
''Frue; but one sees all sorts of for
4une, good, bad and indifferent, in the
course of lifetime. A few years ago,
eftcr the wreck of the fruit steamer
4ucayos, found myself out of job,
Ind aI ifr at Key West. Even then there
vas considerable trade in coral, sea
shells and other marine goods from that
port nor,hward, and 1 there made the
acouain ance of two brothers named
Bannost, who owned sloop, and were
cruising about to pick up such curiosi-
ties for shipment.
! "They offered me dollar day and ra.
fions to embark with them on fort.
nights trip to the 'Markeys'-a place I
had never heard of till then; and as I
knew of fruit steamer, on which I ex-
pected to get passage to New York, that
vas likely to put into Key West, bound
North, in the course of three or four
wrecks, accepted the offer.
: ''We bat out of the port at sunrise
the following morning, with a pretty
stiff nor'westerly wind blowing, which
afterward shifted northerly little, and
ty four o'clock that afternoon dropped
anchor among the Markeys.
"These islets are nothing more than q
Got of reefs and sand spits. Not one of
them is large enough to be spoken of as
an island, but around them lie some of
she choicest beds of coral in the world.
AT any rate, have never seen anything
90 beautiful elsewhere.
= ssThe Bannost DO 8, whom I went out
With, had their collecting-boat made
with large pane of glass set in the
bottom, so that one man could lie down
and place his eye to it. A clearer view
OF the coral beds was thus obtained,
particularly when there was breeze
enough to ruffle the surface
''Early the next morning we three set
off from the sloop, in this glass
TO, like 80 many other sailors, I had been
but an indifferent swimmer, but | now
found that, to do anything at collecting
corals, must not only swim we'll, but
must be able to dive like pearl-hunter.
"Submarine divers suits had not been
made use of in this business, as indeed
they are at present. The entire outfit
for getting up the coral consisted of iron
bars, boat hooks and tongs with lines
attached, for hauling up the heavier
specimens. There was also q kind of
heavy grapnel, called coral hook, for
dragging on the bottom and tearing up
the coral, but this was not found to
work well.
''Both the Bannost brothers and a
Cuban, named Martini, who had ac-
companied them on this voyage, were
good divers, and they at once initiated
me in the art. l made my first attempt
tn about fifteen feet of water, with a line
looped under my arms, and after q few
hours practice, found that I could 90
down nearly as we'll as the Others did.
"But in deeper water I experienced
much difficulty, and, in fact, never
have learned to dive we'll in thirty or
thirty-five feet of water, unless with a
weight to help me down, and line to
give ME con idcnce.
1.-The beds encircle the reefs, extend
out into from ten to forty fert of water,
with channes of deeper water between
them. There are here half dozen diff
terent kinds of coral, generally apart and
separate one from ar rother, at different
DEPTHS of water. The most abundant is
the branch coral wide beds of which
are found on the shallow fats, fifty,
seventy-fve and hundred acres in ex-
tent, a true submarine grove, through
the branches of which play great schools
of parrot.fsh, angel fish, yellow-tails'
and grunts.
"These groves of branch coral are of a
rich olive-brown tint, and amidst them
you are sure to see the waving whips of
numerous crawfsh, and discover nests of