The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-02
SPONGE FISHING.
A PECULIAR INDUSTRY IN THE
GULF OF MEXICO.
Where the Sponges are Found-How
They are Caught and Their
Preparation for the 2 >,
Market.


- a=gs' ...-s.
. The water of the Gulf of Mexico is
noted for its clearness, but at best our un-
aided eyes cannot, with any distinctness,
see objects further than six or eight feet
below the surface. The water-telescope
is therefore employed. Hyatt, in his ac-
count of the commercial sponges, de-
scribes this as tube, several feet long,
similar to that used in Norway; but the
only form have ever seen in Florida,
and which is known as ''water-glass, !"
consits simply of an ordinary wooden
pail, into the bottom of which has been
set pane of strong. glass. Sinking the
lower half of this bucket below the water
and pushing his face down into it, while
the bail is showed 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 as far as
the light penetrates.
/ In this posture, bent over the rail OF
the canted yawl, his great pole resting
across the gunwales in readiness, and his
head half concealed in the swimming water
glass, the sponge-hooker is slowly moved
over the waves by his intelligent sculler,
while he scrutinizes the bottom for the
inconspicuous objects of his search.
Nearly dozen different kinds OF
sponges are named by the Gulf fishermen.
The valuable ones are the "sheeps-wool,
i"boat," :" "yellow,, ''5' grass and "gloEe"
sponges, but thetlast two are$not, of much
account. "Loggerhead," :" finger
sponges, and the like, are useless. Ex-
pert fishermen can tell all these apart as
far under water as they can see them at
all, though in six or seven fathoms the,
very largest-perhaps szbig ASA peck
measure-looks very small just mere
purple spets on the bottom Unless the
water is clear, however, even the aid OF
the water-glass will not enable man to
see the large, deep growing sponges, and
locality is often reported t'played out, "
because it is SO muddy nobody can tell
what is there. This is nota common OBJ
stacle, however; in fact, fsponges, would
not grow where the water was often
soiled- y,ES Il S.S .ss4 ) {
PerceiGngsa sponge on the bottom
YOU or I would probably pass it over as
stone or bit of coral, or not notice it
at all-the hooker signs to his mate,
who, by dexterous manipulation holds
the boat stationary, while the hooker
lets his long pole slide quickly to the
ib>ttom. Guiding it with one hand and
shoulder only, and looking through the
water glass, he places the hook under
meath the sponge, taking care not to IN
.iure the body, and gives tia violent jerk.
If it breaks, il. floats. up, at once and is
picked up; but sometimes several twist
ing jerks are required to detach the tough
polypore, and now and then one will hold
on SO unexpectedly that the gunwale OF
the boat viii be dragged hinder, and the
two c6nchs find themselves pitched head
first into the water. tf..,j
The hardest Of all species to detach is
the "sheep's WOOL. and the ''yellow"
the easiest: liiC/> -
When a sponge comes up bearing a
isbud" of good, SIZE. this is broken off
and thrown back. It sinks and survives,
but is said not to become affixed to- a
rock, but to drift about on the bottom
with the motion of any storm or current
that may stir it. 1t increases in size, but
easily eludes the grasp of the clumsy
hooks that try to pick it up. These out
casts are called t'Relling Johns" by the
fishermen.
At the end of week or fortnight a
schooner collects her boats and carries
her spoils to the shore, where has been
set up an arrangement for preparing the
raw sponges for market. This consists
of circular palisade Of, poles bound to-
igether by withes into q pretty close pen
about twenty feet in diameter, and stand
ing in some protected shoal where at
high tide the water may be ten or a
dozen feet deep. Such a pen is called
"a "crawl, pasrIword corrupted from the
Spanish corral. I Into itiis thrown the
first weeks catch and left to macerate, q
lprocess rapidly effected in the poorly
organized Tissues Of the ssponge.animals.s
When the vessel reaches it on the next
Saturday, these first sponges have been
swashing about and rubbing against the
poles until they are well rotted and par
italy cleaned of sarcode.. Fhey are
now taken to the shcre, placed upon
planks and thoroughly beaten with
short paddle called "bruiser, " which
treatment drives out of the interior
of each, as well as presses from the sur
face, the dirty water and decayed ami
NAL matter with which it is saturated. It
lis very noisy and very nasty piece of
: work, and ends by slashing away with
knife any black and shiny particles that
may still adhere. This done, the new
stock is transferred from the vessels
iheaped and Shiny decks to the coral, and
left to be soaked out by the waves.
After 1.-The sssbruising2 the =, skeleton
lsponges are strung on%ropeyarn in lengths
iof 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 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
Ito 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.