Birmingham age-herald., 1895-06-19
SWEEPING. FOR LOST ANCHORS.
A Saltwater Industry Now Being Pursued
 in the Lakes


 A curious and remunerative occupa- tion is that of sweeping for lost an- chors. Until this year 1t has been con fined chiefly to salt water. This summer. however, men are working in the fresh water lakes, with headquarters along the southern and eastern shores of Lake Ontario. They say fresh water sweep ing is nothing compared to dragging for lost anchors off Marthas Vineyard, Vineyard Haven, in Long Island sound and on the New England coast
 The salt water draggers have head quarters at Martha's Vineyard. There is also a fleet of nimble schooners in Long Island sound. They go on long voyages. Vineyard Haven harbor is a noted ref uge in heavy weather,-and the sands are full of derelict anchors. Off the town of Falmouth, where the beach sweeps southeast to Nobsca light, in one of The best holding grounds in the sound But the anchors that persist in holding to bottom are lost almost as frequently as those left on bottom by the parting of a cable.
 The currents of Vineyard sound rush like the sluice of a sawmill This conai- tion prepares an annual harvest for the anchor sweepers. When a storm does catch coasters their anchors are pretty apt to drop and stay dropped Some times the cable is buoyed and secured IdI6T on, put IL requires llIlle anu Shlll to do it.
 Old salts say more cables are slipped off Vineyard haven than anywhere else.
 Anchor Sweepers very much dislike to be styled wreckers, yet their business is really wrecking in an honest manner. Schooners of about twenty tons are made use of. Sometimes an engine and winch are installed, but heavy tackles fill the bill in ordinary work. A fish tackle is the most powerful in use, and consists of two heavy blocks, each with four sheaves or pulleys. The upper block is made fast to a pennant or rope aloft, and with the other block attached to several tons weight. One man can develop about one half horse power. By the accepted law, the captain who relinquishes an un- buoyed anchor has no more claim to it after he has left the locality than have the sweepers.
 The schooner is fitted with good boat for groping about for submerged iron, and has three or five men,. When like ly spot is reached the sweeping line is made ready. It is about the size and strength of a whale-boatS toW-line. In its middle two weights are bent. about 10 feet apart. One end of this line is fastened to the stern of the schooner, while the other is taken into the boat. The men row some distance away from the schooner. Then they range the boat so that she will drift with the tide, with the weighted sweep-line on the bottom. Schooner and boat proceed with equal speed, and the line between the weights drags on the sand striking any projec- tion. Sometimes mile of water will be swept; then comes sudden yank The boat signals the schooner to stop. The crew of the boat backlspn the oars, while the man in the stern Aaowly hauls in the sweep line, being careful not to dislodge it. Then one of the weights comes to the surface, and if the line exhibits rust tho confident that o anchO1f has been caught.
 The men in the schooner have chain or heavy rope, in one end of which is a thimble or eye. The other, or free end, is bent to the sweep line and then care fully pulled down to the obstruction under or around it, and to the surface by the boats crew. When this work is performed, a chain occupies a position formerly held by the sweep. The free end of the chain having been passed through the eye at its other end, sort of slip-noose or running blight is thus formed. The moose is worked down to the anchor and when the sweepers are reasonably sure it has fallen to the prop CT position an effort is made to raise the anchor If it weighs 60,000 pounds it is a difficult matter to break if out of the sand, but by dint of backing and filling the schooner this is usually accom- pished.
 An anchor in good condition brings market prices for old iron. When cap tain has lost an anchor he hunts up sa sweeper who can usually show him q good assortment of them. Frequently many fathoms of cable are brought up These chains, if old or musty, are sell dom used in their former capacity but are available as junk or ballast Most of the schooners engaged in the sweop- ing business carry divers appliances, and when there is wreck do salvage duty.