Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-11-15
SPONGE FISHING.
~ PECULIAR INDUSTRY IN THE
GULF OF MfXICO
Where the Spon2cs arc Found How
They are Caught and Their
Preparation for the
Market.

|
noted for its clcarncss, but at best our ,in-
aided eyes cannot, with any distinctncss,
see objects further than six or eight fee:
bclow the surface. The telescope
is therefore employed. Hyatt, in his lc-
count OF the commercial sponges, de-
scribcs this rs Il tube several feet long,
similar 10 that used in Norway; but the
only form have ever seen in Florida,
| and which is known is II .'watcr- glass, -
| cOnslts simply of M ordinary wooden
! pail, into the bottom OF which has been
| set Il pane of strong glass. Sinking Tie
lower half of this buckle: below the water
and pushing his face down into it, while
the bail is shoycd over his head to hold
the bucket in place, the hooker shuts out
the reflection of the light from the sur
face of the water and can look down into
the more or less crystal depths us far ms
the light penctr!tcs.
In this posture, bent over the rail of
the cantcd yawl, his great pole resting
across the 8tinwalcs i'll readiness, and his
head half conccalcd in the swimming water
glass. the pongchookcr is slowly moved
over the wares Ivy his intelligent sculcr,
while he scrutinizcs the bottom for the
Nearly dozen different kinds of
sponges are named by the Gulf fishermen.
The valuable ones are the "shcep's-wool,"
''boat, > yellow" 'grass" and "glove"
sponges, but the last two arc not of much
account. ''Loggcrhcad," finger"
sponges, and the like arc useless. En-
pert fishermen can tell all these apart rs
far under water us they can see them at
all, though i'll six or seven fathoms the
very largcst-perhaps rs big MS peck
mcasurc-looks very small, just mere
purple spots on the bottom. Unless the
water is clear, however, even the aid of
the watcr-glass will not enable man to
see the large. deep growing spongcs, and
locality is often reported "played out"
because it is so muddy nobody eau tell
what is there. This is not a common OBJ
staclc, however; i'll fact, spongcs would
not grow where the water was often
soilcd.
Pcrcciving sponge on the bottom
you or would probably pass it over as
Il stone or Il bit of coral, or not notice it
ut all-thc hooker signs to his mate,
who, by dcXtcrous manipulation holds
the boat stationary, while the hooker
lets his long pole slide quickly to the
bottom. Guiding it with one hand and
shoulder only, and looking through the
water glass, lie places the hook under
meath the sponge, taking care not to in
iurc the body. and gives tia violent Jerk.
If it breaks, it floats up at once and is
picked up; but sometimes several twist
ing jerks are required to ictach the tough
polyporc, and now and then one will hold
on 50 unexpectedly that the guuwalc OF
the boat will BE dragged under, and the
two Conchs find themselves pitched head
first into the water.
The hardest OF all species to dctach is
the "sheep's WOOL, and the yellow
the easiest
When sponge comes up bearing
''bud' of good size, this is broken off
and thrown back. Itsinks and survives.
but is said not to become affixed TO
rock, but to drift about OH the bottom
with the motion of any storm or current
that may stir it. II increases in size, but
easily eIudcs the grasp of the clumsy
hooks that try TO pick it up. These out
casts are called "Rolling Johns" by the
fishermen.
AT the end of week or Il fortnight a
schooner collects her boats and carries
her spoils to the shore, where has been
set UP an arrangement for preparing the
raw spongcs for market This consists
of circular palisadc OF poles bound to-
Sethcr by withcs into Il pretty close pen
about twenty-fcet in diameter, and stand
ing III some protected shoal where ut
high tide the water may be ten or IL
dozen feet deep. Such pen is called
Il crawl" II word corrupted from the
Spanish corral. Into it is thrown the
first weeks catch and left to maccrate. Il
process rapidly effected i'll the poorly
organized tissues of the spongc-animals.
When the vessel reaches il on the next
Saturday, these first spongcs have been
swashing about and rubbing against the
poles until they arc well rotted and par
tally cleaned Of sarcodc They are
now taken to the shore, placed upon
planks and thoroughly beaten with a
short paddle called ''bruiser," which
treatment drives out of tho interior
of each, us well us presses from the sur
face: the dirty water and dccaycd ami
NAL matter with which it is saturated 1t
is very noisy and very nasty piece of
work, and ends by slashing away with a
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knife any black and Shiny particles that
may still adhere. This done, the new
stock is transferred from the vessels
heaped and Shiny decks to the coral, and
left to be soaked out by the waves.
After the CRUISING the skeleton
sponges are strung on rope yarn in lengths
of two fathom Strings" and made to
bleach and dry on the hot sand beach,
until the end of the voyage. All this
work will be done by q ships crew, even
if they have as many as 1000 sponges in
half day.
The American sponges are used for the
bath and other coarser domestic purposes
to some extent; but large part of the
product is torn to pieces for stufing
cushions, mattresses, etc., as substitute
for hair and in the manufacture of certain
rough kinds of cloth in place of coarse
wool or hemp.-Drake's Magazine.