The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-06-25
STORIES FROM THE HARBOR.
A Day and a Half Without Any Food
But DulSe.

Unpleasant Experience of Two Women On
Inner Green Island-How HOLSTERS Shed
Their ShelIs-A Soft Shell Crab Episode
Recently man living in Portland bought
inner Green island, the scene of the '.wolf
dog tragedy" for S75. There is house
on the island. His sister and another wom-
an were taken down in a sail boat and left
on the island. They planned to stay three
days there alone for the pleasure of it and
for the purpose of gathering dulse.
At the end Of the three days the two men
were to come after them. But they didn't
do SO. They didn't arrive on time. Conse-
quently the provisions of the two women
gave out. They had been day land a half
without food when the men arrived, and
their disappointment and more can be
imagined, when they found that the men
had brought no food with them. There was
nothing they could eat on the island except
dulse. They had no fish lines, and barring
few cookies, (which didn't taste very
good, they had noting to stay the craving
of appetite. The sail home was not as
pleasant as the Shutdown.
Yesterday the Merryconeag made special
landings at Cliff island to land and take
off a. party of four or five Boston men that
came down to the cottage of Mr.. Black, a
Bostonsmanswho owns land there. The par
ty combined business with pleasure and
looked over the ground with the view of
purchasing cottage lots
Did you ever see lobster shed its shell
as snake does its skin? In fact did you
know that the lobster does this thing? The
young HOLSTERS do, every year. Yesterday
lobster was taken from trap at Great
Chebeague island that had just shed it's
shell and was as soft almost as a jelly-fsh,
but was covered with thin, tough skin
that will become the future shell. The
cast off shell was floating in the trap. The
back was split open, but how those f1eshy
claws were ever pulled out of the shell
claws a mystery. They were much
larger than the shells. But that is the way
the lobster grows. The fishermen, in whose
trap this lobster was. says that he has made
careful observation and found that before
the new shell formed, a lobster that he
watched increased two inches in length. and
otherwise correspondingly. 1t is as if the
flesh were compressed inside the old shell,
until that bursts and then the lobster swells.
The above fisherman says that he thinks
the lobster does not shed after it attains
maturity. His father caught big lobster
once, carved his initials on it and threw it
over board. About three years after he
caught the same lobster, about a mile and
a half from'the first place, and the initials
were still there, showing that the big lob
sters retain their shells.
One of the harbor cottagers is very fond
of CLANS. Holsters, crabs, etc., and the other
day he sent away and obtained dozen soft
shell.crabs, about three inches in diameter.
He told his cook to drop them into pan
of deep, hot fat, just as they were, alive
and kicking. She dropped one in and a
and hot crab and fat were scattered all
over the kitchen and the cooks face. The
next crab exploded in the same way. So
did the next, and then they concluded to
stop. But the Yankee intellect was equal
to it, The cottager wasn't sure how the
crabs are cooked, except in deep, hot fat.
but be reasoned that shole in the crabs
skin mia lit mollify it. as a hole does a can
of soup under similar circumstances. The
holes were made and the crabs were fried
without further difficulty.
All along the west shore of Long island
yesterday hundreds of dead fish were float
ing. They were about the size of large
mackerel. They were what is known as
England hake, and are not considered
fit for food. They had been caught in the
pound there and thrown away They have
a mouth like a pickerel and sharp teeth.
Mackerel are frequently caught with their
sides badly torn. These are the fish that
attack them.