Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-08-21
SOFT SHELL CRABS.
PHYSICAL ECCENTRICITiEs or
This DAINTY CRUSTACEAN.
Two Methods of Catching Them
Dredging and Dipne;ting-How
lie Moults-His Beautiful
Coat of Mail.

were much ridiculed for their notions on
this subject and derisively referred 10 as
"crab breeders" The success they made
of the enterprise quickly turned scorn
to imitation, and during the last season
about 4,500,0 900 "soft shells" and
"peelcrs" were captured by CrisfeId
fshernen alore, representing value to
them of nearly SIS, 900.
1t should be explained that crab an.
preaching the shedding process is var
iously known among the Chesapeake
fishermen as "peeler," a "shedder, u
a cluster" OF ''comber." A "peel.
er,' "shedder," or "buster," is one
whose shell has begun to crack in the
process of moulting, while a "comer," a
"long comer," or a "short comer," is
preparing to cast the shell, which has
looseued, but is not yet split.
Upon this phenomenon of moulting
the crab fishermen of the Chesapeake
chiefly depend for their breal and but
ter. Inasmuch rs Mr. Grab wears his
skeleton on his outside, instead of in
side, as is usual with animals, he must
get out of 1t at intervals in order to grow
bigger. When be is young and develop
ing rapidly he casts his shell every few
weeks. Later on the necessity for sac
rifcing his armor comes less often, anl
finally, when he has attained his full
growth, he gets no more suits Of clothes.
In fact, like many elderly people who
walk on two legs, he seems to consider
that it IS no logger worth his while 20
pay any attention to his apparel, being
content to 90 around with a rusty looking
coat, on which seawee1s and variou,
molusca grow. But, when young, what
is more beautiful than this knigh. in hi;
suit Of mail, full armel and fierce for
battle, with claws OF blue that rivals
the sky, and tipped with bloodrcl at
each defensive point9
For obvious reasons it is very difficult
for the fishermen to secure their crabs at
once upon the shedding of theft shells,
aud so the device is adopted Of gather
ing in those which are about to peel"
by the quantity aud keeping then in
'aoats" until they moult. These floats
are floating trays twenty feet loug, five
feet wide aud f(teea inches deep, fenced
around the edges to prevent tie prison
ers from getting away. One of them
will hold 800 or 400 crabs, and they are
visited three or four times daily for the
purpose OF removing those which have
shed. No tine is to be lost, becluse a
soft crab grows harder every minute, and
twenty-four hours in the water will
transform the animal into a "pspeT
SHE'LL while at the end OF forty-eight
hours it will be unsaable.
Thirty firms are engaged in buying,
shedding and shipping crabs near Girls
field at present. The fishermen do not
seu their own crabs TO market, prefer
ring to sell them to the regular dealers
on the spot, who pack the soft shells for
sending off Immediately, placing the
"peelers" IN floats until they arc ready.
As the fishermen bring in their crabs the
dealers count them in the presence Of the
crabbers, separating the soft crabs, the
"short comers," and the "long comers,
and paying for them in cash, or, as is
more usual, giving tick ct redeemable
at any time. Payment, however, has
usually been made at the enG OF each
week, at what the dealers chose to say
was the market rate, and it is this plan
that the crabbers have struck against,
demanding that they be remlnerated at a
fixed price for each days catch on deliv-
cry. As a rule each crabber has co1
tract to supply one or more dealers with
all the crabs he gets. The season for
soft crabs begins in May and continues
until the middle of October, when the
crabmen go to oystering
Two methods of catching crabs are
practised in the vicinity Of Crisfeld-
dredging and dipnetting. The dredge
is net framed with iron, which Is
hauled over the bottom, being brought
to the surface at intervals and empticd OF
its contents. When using the dip net
the boat is poled with an oar slowly
around the edges OF the marshes aud in
other shallows, scooping in such victims
as make themselves visible. The daily
catch is apt to vary with the weather.
When it is stormy the crabs take refuge
from disturbance by the waves in deep
water. 1t is estimated that the average
fisherman can take from sevcnty-hve 10
hundred soft shells and sheddcrs daily
dunDg the season. He receives for
them from Il to two cents each. The
opinion prevails about Cris6cld That the
crabs are most abroad during the night
in the shoaI waters. Fishermen usii-
ally make their best catches before
daybreak, aud there is much rivalry
among the crabbers in making an early
start to reach the shadows and put out
their dredges for the crabs that have
come up during the night to feed aud
moult.
1t is very essential that the fisherman