The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-07-03
FROM THE OCEANS BED.
WONDERFUL CATCH OF A SMACK
NEAR BLOCK ISLAND.

Goldfish and Remarkable White FIoun-
der-Other Curious Specimens Taken
from the Bottom of the Briny Deep.
The fauna and forasof the miles of fish,
ing banks spread, cut to the south and east
of Block Island, under blanket Of salt
water twenty fathoms deep, was never be-
fore brought ashore in larger quantities, in
finer condition, nor as early in the season
as in 1899.
Not until the invention of the trawl gear
for fishing did man begin to form a correct
idea of what the surface OF the great fish
ing banks Of the ocean was like The
hand line, jerked from a vessels deck,
brought scant traces of its beauties to the
surface. But codfishing trawl 500 or 600
fathons long, with hooks fastened to it q few
feet apart by short lines, and dropped over
one of these submarine gardens, insinuates
itself among the yrapk foliage, among rocks
and shells, down into caverns, and over
forests of green. There it lies for hours.
When pulled to the top of the water it is
usually found to be loaded with cart loads
of rare and beautiful specimens of sub
marine fauna and fora, andwith abundant
evidences that beneath the tons of heaving
gardens of a verdure as luxuriant, and
peopled with animals as strange and
curious, as can be found in any tropical
! jungle.
| TIE MARY.C'S BIG HAUL.
The codfsling schooner smack Mary c.
came into the Basin one night with her
travis SO filed with.this sort of a harvest
! thatthe entire next day was spent by her
| snIa Sha- lol
''wet" during few hours spent on Cox
swain's ledge, twenty miles east southeast
of Block Island. The Mary C.'s crew set
their travis on whateis known as the
twenty fathom drift" on the outer edge
of Coxswain's. This is q fertile sea farm,
well known to cod tra~lmen, bat never be-
fore was such collection of wonders Of
the deep taken from,it, as was found in
the haul of the Mary C. Nearly every
hook of the travis: contained something
fish or fauna, sea lettuce or kelp-the whole
being so plentifdlly 1Rterspersed with beau
tiful and large, white bellied and gray
backed Goldfish, as to make the smack's
venture a pro6tablesone.
One ribbon of the wide green velvety
keIp, caught up by the hooks, was long
enough to festoon easily and nicely from
mast, then to hersmaiIfrast, and lastly to
her main boom topping lift over the stern.
The ruffled and flouaced edges Auttered in
the wind in this position all the time the
smack hay insthe basin.
A portion of the usual catch consisted Of
black mussels and black pearl sea oysters
The mussels were very 4aFge-from half
to three-quarters. eta pound in weight
Int in 70 H.,
eaten. There wereifoEr peark oyaters, each
of which contained, little pearl, irregu-
larly shaped, and -of,e, silEery, ashen hue.
A PARTIAL LIST OF THE. 0URfosITIEs.
Several specimens of the large black
shelled quahaugs or hard CLANS were also
caught up. The flesh of4these is plump
and tender and much liked byaII who have
tasted it. There is no, doubt that there are
huge beds of these bivalves in the deep sea
off Coxswain's ledge, and it is likely that
some deep water dredge nets will be con-
structed for the purpose of catching them
in quantities.
Here is partial list of the other most
strikingly interesting things brought up
by the Mary c. travis: .Sponges, sea corn,
skates, Chris Cohnors or sea roses, sea rob
ms, dog fish, Conger cells, sea lettuce or
cabbage, sea peas, swallow alls and a white
founder.
Sponges have not been caught off Block
Island for years. The Mary C. caught
three fine specimens the largest of sugar
loaf shape, about eighteen inches in height,
foot in diameter, and divided into at least
forty slender fingers. These sponges-as
are those taken on the Nantucket shoals
and Georges Banks fishing grounds-are
filed with the reddish yellow matter of
animal life when taken from the sea, but
repeated ana careful sgueezes, alternated
with washing, eventually leaves them as
white and clean as a lady's hand, and they
become handsome parlor ornaments.
There is not as much fabric in them as in
those found in warmer seas, and conse-
quently they cannot be put 60 any service.
BEAUTIFUL SEA ROSES.
BY far the largest proportion of the curl
osities on the travis consisted of sea roses
or Chris Connors, as the codmen know
them. Hundreds of themg sucked in the
trawl bats with their beautiful pink
petals, and many a Block Island dame to-
day has a pail of them bloSsoming out I'M
der salt water in her back yard They /
make pretty flower bed The. sea rose is /
a leathery looking object, which attaches
itself to a stone at the bottom of the sea in /
its infancy, and which, ultimately attains |
size of about three inches in length. by one |
and half in breadth. When quiet and |
feeding under water stop opens and bios /