The St. Johns herald., 1895-07-18
4 QUEER TRADE.
Vessels Engaged in Searching for
 Lost Anchors.
The Method Employed in Fishing Up the Planted Mud l.ooks-A COmfoFta- bIe Revenue in the Odd
 Business.

reat city. and one of the strargcst Of
 Iese heTcab0uts is fishing up lost an
 nors and anchor chains from the bot
 ems of the bays 2n1 Of the sea, along
 ae coast. 1t is rot what might lee
 .alIed a fourishing industry, says the
 .ew York Evening Post, but is, in-
 ,eed, . Precarious dependence for the
 accessarics Of life: yet it yields suste-
 nance enough to have created quite
 lumber Of followers. Several schoon- CTS and sloops are chgagcd almost e.
 .ll-sively in this trade and each
 aries Q crew O. from three to ten r1er.
 These cdd fishermen seek their inan-
 :riate prey whenever the weather per
 lles, and, of course. are most active turing the long surnIacr days. Like
 mo takers Of living spells from the 7-eter. they know the field of their op- orGtioas thoroughly, and eXpend their energies nostly where the fishing is .scgt. Perhaps, Of all the grounds in this vicinity, they regard the stretch c[ 1c2 of the Delaware breal:water as Inc most profitable. It is widely known c:lorg shippers and all seafaring men who visit theac parts as great cene
 tory fcr anchors. They are being con- 5:antIy ''plantc3' there, to use the nautical phrase. TlIe perpetual invol- un tary sowing" os anchors there is due to tie large number Of vessels that are compelled by conditions of busi- ness or Of wind and tide to ride off the treal1Iyater, and t0 their getting ire CUcntly caught in gale while doing sc. Then, the floor Of the sea at that point appears to have . peculiar facil ity for fouiing anchors, and vessels are net seldom coIcpeIled-or prefer. as the less of two cvilS-to abandon them.
 Territory up and down the coast r2rlC5 next, i. the anchor fishermans: $ estson. as 8 fruitful anchor bed. The, interior waters of the harbor are more barren. yet repay search. Even tlo Forth and East rivers. for some dis tarce up. are occasionally harvested, and usually not wholly in vain.
 The method of anchor fishing is sim pie to prj!nit;veness. It consists in let ling down chain in . loop from the aidcs of the vessel until the loop trails along the bottom. Then the boat sails along with all hands on board alert for a bite" Plain as this tackle is, it is cffeotivG as any that could be dcviscd.
 ''plantcd'' anchors almost invariably lie with enc lul1e buried iI the mad and the ether sticking straight up. Ii the angling chain I, dragging in the direction Of the inner curve of the up standing iiulle. it is almost 8 sure
 >atch. Then the line viii the anchor attached is carefully hojstcd, some times 'y hand, or if the anchor is very heavy, }'y means cf capstans. If the spoil is q very weighty one-say foEry five or. fiE thousand poUnds,ja driviZ.S engine ii fraVuentiy employed. ThcTh@eances ere few, however, where the fishermen <. I t0 eecare taeir ba9t;. When nee Ce&ary the crew of enc 2nchcr smack will lend hand to another. Eoats often work in pairs. A cable is stretched between the vessels, and dragged CT the bottom. Whom GIT an- c:2cr is caught one of the vessels takes 2 position above it and both crews assist in r2ising it. This method ir- sares wide sweep of the b2tto1l. There are two purposes for which the catch" is Gispcac4 Of. Usually the anchors arc sold to be used as an chOrS again, for moderate. CT even a considerable, degree cf rust in TO way impair3 their efficiency as such. If they a.re too much eaten up by rust. which ccldom happens, they are sold as cid iron. As they are of wrought iron the price brought is cftcn considerable. There ore also two ways 5y which the fishermen find q market value for their wares They either sell them directly by hawking them about among the vessels i'll. the harbor e. they sell them to the ship chandlcrs. Sometimes they have per mission from wharf-oUncrs CT le6sees to stick the anchors up there with notice that they are for sale, with the price stated. As a rule they get very good prices. New anchors are sold for five cents q pound now. and the re- covered old ones seldom suffer a great i CT depreciation in value than rne cent 8 pound. Therefore, fer every one th2usand pounds Of anchor they cap tll1l th2 fSherEan make about fortr ! dollars, 2rd if the anchor is cnc of the very hc2Eiost-a six thousand pountler ! their haul nets them about two hun- : Grcdacd forty dollars. TaeyGcl;;oIa take {, q monster Of that size, however; their {, usual capture is between fifteen hun ! fred and twenty-five lpndred pounds |. There are several rcaa6ns for this. Iu tke first place the liChter anchors are 1! lzlorc generally uscI: in the second !. place it is the sailing vessels which !. most oftan lcse their anchors. and, as q rule. they carry lighter anchors than i steamers. and, in the third place, most ] l4TCc vesscls-whctkcr steam CT sail !! i29-com.nonly carry both 9 light and g heavy archer, and seldom drop the : ter i1 tnc harbcr CT immediately l eff jl3c coast, using 1t for deeper and l r>u~aor seas. The fact that steam | !, els lose their anchors less frequent i + than aaning vessels is dre to their ! ! eicr able to rSe their steam, when , ,,,-..-- s~ obocl- hO c+roi,, ,,,,.o-, %l,o