The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-06-14
THETURTLE EATERS.
MOST OF THEM ARE JEWELLERS IN
NEW YORK AND LONDON.

How the "Big Fish" Arc Captured and
transported to Nfarket-Turtles Live For
Month In Captivity without Food-vi-
tality In . snapper's Head.
1t takes about 5000 turtles year to
keep New York In turtle soup. This city
and London are the great turtle eaters.
All the rest of the world together would
not equal either one Of these cities in the
amount of turtle meat consumed, and New
York consumes 1000 more of the "big
fish" than London does. Nearly all the
turtles received in this city come from Key
West
They are caught on tho coral reefs sur
rounding the Florida keys, and, after be-
ing taken into Key West, are brought to
this port by Mallory line steamer. The
turtles are laid on their backs in COM
partment below decks. The compartment
Is kept warm, and that Is all the care the
creatures receive. They are not fed at all.
! Strange to say, In large shipment it Is
rare that more than one turtle dies In the
four days trip up the coast.
A few turtles arrive here at odd intervals
from Jamaica, but they do not arrive In as
good condition as the Key West turtles and
are not considered such good eating.
Londoners, In spite of all that has been
said about aldermanio turtle soup, do not
really know what good turtle soup is.
Their turtles come from Jamaica.
The turtle trade, both in London and
New York, is In the hands of few men.
4. K. Bells controls nine-tenths Of the
London trade and Eugene Blackford at
least two-thirds Of the New York trade.
Up above Mr.. Blackford's place in Full
ton market no has room to which the
turtles are hoisted and laid on their backs
in mild temperature as soon as they are
received from the steamer. In summer,
when the market Is full of turtles, they are
placed in pens in the East river, back of
the fish market, and fed on chopped cab
bage. In winter, however, they get only
warm room.
Turtles have been known to live for
month after their arrival without food,
just by being kept warm. In winter the
dealers are careful, as rule, not to order
too many turtles. They order just about
the number for which they have de-
mand
Sometimes, when there came sudden
and unexpected demand, turtles have been
sent up from Florida by express, but that
makes turtle cost so much that it is only
In emergencies that he travels that way.
For tho New York market the turtles
required are from 10 to 1896 pounds for
Florida turtles Jamaica turtles arc not
good when they weigh moro than 1870
pounds. Kingston is the place where most
of the turtle fishing for the London mar
ket is done. The great sen turtles, with all
their possibilities Of steak and soup, swarm
over the coral reefs north of Jamaica, and
over 100 men work on from to 10 small
schooners catching them.
Strong nets arc stretched from rock to
rock of coral, and against these nets the
'fsh, i" as tho turtles are called by their
hunters, swim and cling with their flip
pcrs. Then the fishermen gather them in,
each schooner carrying back to Kingston
from the reef as its catch from so to
$50 turtles They are put into Enclosures
filed with seq water, fed on turtle grass
and taken out as required, either for ex-
port or home consumption.
Nearly 5000 turtles year arc sent to
London, and, in spite of rumors to the con-
trary, they are not all consumed by the
lord mayor and the aldermen. Turtles
bound for England get liberal supply of
sea water, are fed on diet of oatmeal and
lettuce, and are comforted with beds Of
warm straw.
Nevertheless the death rate among them
while on the voyage is large Those which
survive the voyage sometimes die in the
train from Southampton to London. Out
of one lot of 100 shipped to the principal
London dealer some time ago, only 70
were alive when the steamer arrived at
Southampton, and of those 30 died before
they reached London.
A turtle will stand decapitation better
than cold. A turtle whose head had been
cut off "a hours previously knocked down
q man cook in Newcastle hotel, and 1t is |
not infrequently that these "big fish" are
nailed to tho decks Of ship to prevent
their swarming all over It, They don't |
Seem to mind it at ALL
Yet any temperature below 40 degrees
kills turtle out of hand.
A turtles head will retain its vitality
for long time after being severed from
tho body. 1t is well attested fact that
sometimes turtlo's head which has been
Itf for hours will bite at piece of wood.
A turtles heart cut out and laid on mar
bic slab will sometimes go on beating for
TWO hours after it has parted company
with the body.
The green TURTLE which is the kind the
Now York market requires almost exclu-
'ively, is patient and peaceful creature
and there is no danger in handling him.
But his cousin, the Swapping TURTLE"
'reature which largely affects the land, is
If different temper. In the handling of
turtles considerable care has to
% exercised, for they cannot only hit stun
ling blows with their 1ippers, but their
powerful beaks are capable of doing seri-
,us injury.
A man was once carrying large turtle
nto famous restaurant, when, as he
vent to place it on the floor the creature
mapped his nose clean off. When snap
ling turtle is sold, piece of wood is
laced in his beak and tied there with
trong cords running around his head.
otherwise he could not be handled with
ny sort of safety. Only about $50 pounds
month of swapping turtle are sold in
lew York, New York Press.