The St. Johns herald., 1895-01-31
A QUEER TRADE.
Vessels Engaged in Searching for
 Lost Anchors.
The Method Employed in Fishing Up the Planted Mud HoOks-A COmfOrta- bIe Revenue Tn the Odd
 Business.

great city, and one of the strangest of these hereabouts is fishing up lost an- chors and anchor chains from the bot toms of the bays and of the sea along the coast. It is not what might be called fourishing industry, says the New York Evening Post, but is, in- deed, precariOus dependence for the necessaries of life; yet it yields suste- nance enough to have created quite a number of followers. Several schoon- CTS and sloops are engaged almost eX- clusively in this trade" and each carries a crew Of from three to ten rnen.
 These odd fishermen seek their inan- innate prey whenever the weather per miGs, and, of course, are most active during the long summer days. Like the takers of living spells from the water, they know the field of their op- erations thoroughly, and expend their energies mostly where the fishing is best. Perhaps, of all the grounds in this vicinity, they regard the stretch of sea off the Delaware breakwater as the most profitable. It is widely known
 
 who visit these parts as a great ceme- tery for anchors. They are being con- stantly planted" there, to use the nautical phrase. The perpetual invol- untary sowing" of anchors there is due to the large number of vessels that are compelled by conditions of busi- ness or of wind and tide to ride off the breakwater, and to their getting ire quently caught in a gale while doing SC. Then, the floor of the sea at that point appears to have peculiar facil ity for fouling anchors, and vessels are not seldom compelled-or prefer, as the less of two evils-to abandon them.
 Territory up and down the coast ranks next, iA the anchor fisherman's esteem, as a fruitful anchor bed. The interior waters of the harbor are more barren, yet repay search. Even the North and East rivers, for some dis tance up, are occasionally harvested, and usually not wholly in vain.
 The method of anchor fishing is sim pie to primitiveness It consists in let ting down a chain in a loop from the sides of the vessel until the loop trails along the bottom. Then the boat sails along with all hands on board alert for bite" Plain as this tackle is, it is effective as any that could be devised.
 Planted" anchors almost invariably lie with one fluke buried in the mud and the other sticking straight up. If the angling chain is dragging in the direction of the inner curve of the up standing fuke, it is almost a sure ''catch. Then the line wi h the anchor attached is carefully hoisted, some times by hand, or if the anchor is very heavy, by means of capstans. If the spoil is a very weighty one-say four, five or six thousand pounds, driving engine is frequently employed. The instances arc few, however, where the fishermen fail to secure their booty. When nee eSSary the crew of one anchor smack will lend hand to another. Boats often work in pairs A cable is stretched between the vessels, and dragged on the bottom. When an an chOr is caught one of the vessels takes a position above it and both crews assist in raising it. This method in-
  There are two purposes for which the ''catch" is disposed of. Usually the anchors are sold to be used as an chors again, for a moderate, or even a considerable, degree of rust in no way impairs their efficiency as such. If they are too much eaten up by rust, which seldom happens, they are sold as old iron. As they are of wrought iron the price brought is often considerable. There are also two ways by which the fishermen find market value for their wares. They either sell them directly by hawking them about among the vessels in the harbor or they sell them to the ship chandlers. Sometimes they have per mission from wharf-owners or lessees to stick the anchors up there with a notice that they are for sale, with the price stated. As rule they get very good prices. New anchors are sold for five cents a pound now, and the re- covered old ones seldom suffer a great CT depreciation in value than one cent a pound. Therefore, for every one thousand pounds of anchor they cap- ture the fishermen make about forty dollars, and if the anchor is one of the very heaviest-a six thousand pounder their haul nets them about two hun dred and forty dollars. They seldom take a monster of that size, however; their usual capture is between fifteen hun dred and twenty-five hundred pounds. There are several reasons for this In the first place the lighter anchors are more generally used; in the second place it is the sailing vessels which most often lose their anchors, and, as rule, they carry lighter anchors than steamers, and, in the third place, most large vessels-whether steam or sail ing-commonly carry both a light and a heavy anchor, and seldom drop the latter in the harbor or immediately off the coast, using it for deeper and rougher seas. The fact that steam vessels lose their anchors less frequent ly than sailing vessels is due to their being able to use their steam, when i necessary, to check the strain upon the i anchor chain.
 { The caOtured anchor chains often |