Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1889-09-27
GATHERING THE SEA MOSS.
AN INDUSTRY FOLLOWED BY MAS
SACEUSETTS FISHERMEN.
Moss That Grows Under water-How
Its Gathered-Drying and Bleach
ing 1t for the Market.

ing 1t for the Market.
"The reefs and scattered lodges that
line the south coast from Minot's Ledge
to Plymouth Rock" says the Boston cor
respondent of the New York Sun, ''are
covered with a species of sea weed called
moss. 1t is not moss, and it bears no re-
lation to the Iceland moss, so-called. 1t
grows below low-water mark, and must
be raked into boats. Equipped with his
long-handled rake, the moss singer
starts out in his dory in quest of the
appetiZing sea weed. Ii he is a careful
man his dory is beached high and dry
above high water mark. That means a
pull of a hundred feet down the beach,
for the work of gathering moss can only
be done at. low tide. Along the Massa-
chusetts coast it is not necessary to go a
great distance before finding the moss
banks. The lodges are being constantly
scraped, and that necessitates an occa-
sional change of territory. But it is sell
dom necessary to go more than a mile
from the beach which is prepared for the
bleaching process.
To a novice the moss singers tactics
are very mysterious. There seems to be
no method in what he does. He rows
until he reaches the rock which he has
decided to operate upon. The rock is
seldom within sight, but its peak is so
near the surface that vessel of any re-
spectacle tonnage would be wrecked. If
the water is smooth the rock can be seen
to distance of several feet. Sometimes
it is entirely covered with the moss, and
presents a very attractive appearance with
the different shades of brown and green.
When the suns rays illuminate the mass
it looks like a veritable garden spot.
Mossers like to find such a rock as that,
for the work of gathering the moss is
greatly simplified, The steel rake is
plunged into the water, drawn over the
surface of the rock, and pulled to the
surface with the long teeth filled with
the moss. This is deposited in the boat.
1t is clean and all ready to be spread out
for drying. Other rocks, however, are
capped by weed which has no CONNER
cial value, the Irish moss growing on the
lower portions of the ledge. Here the
moss gatherer has to exercise greater
care. Sometimes ne drags up rakeful
of unmarketable grass, and at other
times the moss is SO badly mixed with
the grass that much time is lost in sepa-
rating the good fro1I the bad. But it is
a blind struggle for gain. More than
half the time the moss singer has no
face. It is easy raking when the water
is smooth, but when the boat pitches, the
lone wielder of the rake has tough time
of it. No anchor is lowered, the con-
slant shifting of the boat making that
impossible. The moss man has, there
fore, to hold the boat against wind and
wave by main strength exerted at the end
of twenty foot pole. Then quick work
is needed or the boat will be blown away
from the rock.
When the messing is good the men
have no trouble in filling boat at each
low tide, and at the beginning of the
season a man can make two trips by
hustling. The moss adheres firmly to
the rocks, and strong pull fails to dis
lodge the roots. The stems break off and
new shoots grow rapidly. The moss
sometimes grows. to nearly a foot in
length, but such specimens are an excep-
ton. The average length is about six to
eight inches,' and the coral-shaped
branches give it bushy appearance. In
color it varies from dark brown to
lighter shades of the same color, the
young shoots often appearing of a yellow
ish-green hue.
The moss seems to be the breeding
place for the cookies and mussels, and
these are preyed upon by the fish. On
clear days the bottom can be seen through
fifteen feet of water, and a student of
natural history could proftably spend a
whole summer around this and neigh
boring lodges. The moss singer cares
nothing for that, however His iron
rake plunges to the bottom, sends the
fish in all directions, tears the moss from
the rocky bed, scoops up a handful of
shells and star-fsh at the same time, and
bears the whole to the surface. Some
times a luckless crab or lobster is cap
tured by the iron jaws. If so, he never
returns to his quiet home in that ledge
He is dumped into the moss heap to keep
company with the shrimps and cookies
and starfsh. In spite of the mixture of
animal and vegetable life, the moss is
sweet and clean, and is in no way eff
fected by the presence of the live bodies.
After the moss is spread nature pre-
pares it for the market It is allowed to
dry, and then it is subjected to bath of
fresh water. That is the first stage in
the bleaching process. If good shower
falls it is so much the easier for the moss
singer, otherwise he would be obliged
RI din the moss in fresh water Ar moor