The St. Johns herald., 1895-07-04
A QUEER TRADE.
Vessels Engaged in Searck:c- for
 Lost Anchors.
The Method Employed in Fishing Cp the Planted Mud EOOis-A Com :c7ta- bIe Revenue in tsle Odd
 Business.

great city, and one Of the strangest Of
 these hereabouts i8 fishing up lost cn-
 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
 Jew York Evening Pest, but is. in
 deed, precarious dependence fer the
 necessaries of life: yet it yields sastc-
 nance enough to have created quite
 number of followers. Several schOC1-
 CTS and sloops are engaged almost cx-
 clusively in this trade" and each
 carries a crew Of from three to ten
 Eucn,
 These odd fishermen seek their inan-
 innate prey whenever the weather per
 Tnits, 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-
 crations 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
 among shippers and all seafaring men
 who visit these parts as 8 great ceme-
 tery fer 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 of the
 breakwater, and to their getting ire quently caught in gale while doing SC. Then, the floor of the sea at that
 point appears to have a 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, iz the anchor fishcrm2n's esteem, as 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 chain in 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 fer a bite" Plain as this tackle is, it is effective as any that could be devised.
 "Planted' anchors almost invariably lie with one fiuke buried in the mud and the other sticking straight up. If the angling chain i; dragging. in the
 4 Al standing flulze, it is almost Q sure
 'catch." Then the line wi h the anchor attached is carefully hOistcd, 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, a driving engine is frequently employed. The instances are few, however, AyEcre the fishermen fail to secure their booty. When nee sSsary the crew of one anchor smack will lend hand to another. Boats often work in pairs. 4 cable is stretched between the vessels, and ! dragged on the bottom. When an an- chor is caught one of the vessels takes position above it end both crews assist in raising it. This method in- sures wide sweep cf the bottom. There are two purposes for which the ''catch" Is disposed of. Usually the anchors are sold to bo used as an chors again, for a moderate, or even 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-ovners or lessees to stick the anchors up there with Q 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 ST depreciation in value than one cent h pound. Therefore, for every one thousand pounds of anchor they cas- ture the fishermen make about forty dollars, and if the anchor is one of the very hca7iest-a six thousand pounder their haul nets. them about two hun dred and forty dollars. They seldom take [ monster of that size, however; their usual capture is between fifteen hur- Gred and twenty-five hundred pounds There are several reasons fer this. In the first place the lighter anchors are more generally Used; in the second place 1t is the sailing vessels which most often lose their anchors, and, as D rule. they carry lighter anchors than steamers, and, in the third place, most large vessels-whether steam CT sail carry both 8 light and a heavy anchor, and seldom drop the latter in tho harbor or immediately of the coast, using it for deeper and rougher seas, The fact that steam vessels lose their anchors less frequent Iy than sailing vessels is due to their being able to use their steam, when necessary, to check tho strain upon the luchCr chain