Iron County register., 1900-05-24

mand when the dredges had passed
over the whole width of the bed.
With will the whole of US would
suddenly bend our strength upon the
handles of the winches, and wind with
all our might and main. During the
winding the schooner would be toss
ing about like feather and shipping
seas. 1t is well to remark for the bene-
fit of those who don't know that the
short, choppy seas OF a shallow bay
are harder to contend with than are
the gigantic, awful swells that are to
be met with in mid-ocean. Proportion
ately. there are more ships lost in the
shallow. choppy waters of the North
sea than anywhere else.
Oh, the terror of that awful winding!
I'd sooner help to take in frozen sails
| in gale off Cape Horn. Every nerve.
muscle and breath was strained to the
tightest possible tension. If a man
Stacked up the least bit, it was in
stantly felt by the rest. All had to
| fuse their strength into one desperate
| whole The cold seas washed us from
| head to foot. but in the horrible strain
| we didn't notice it. Wind! Wind! Wind!
| Would the Internal strain never cease?
| 1t seemed as if every fiber in man
j were cracking. / had never felt any
thing like il before-nor have l since.
though l have done the hardest and
roughest sort of laboring.
| Up! Up! At last the necks of the
| dredges appeared above the gunwaie
| rollers. Up! Up. And they were on
! deck, and their contents dumped out
! in a heap. Then we fell on our knees
and commenced to separate as quick
| " as possible the oysters from the
loose shells, fiinging the oysters behind
US to form a pile. Any extra shells that
| were sticking TO them We're broken OF
with our ''cuiling hammers" As soon
as we had got all the oysters out Of
/ the heap we quickly shoveled the
| loose shells. the stone. and the sea-
| weed overheard. "Culling." as we
| called the picking out of the oysters.
was a sort of rest after the terror OF
the winding. By the time we had got
| out all the oysters, or, usually. little
before it. the captain had put the boat
| about-so as to cross the oyster bed
| again-and was ready to give the word
| to heave the dredges overheard. Thus
we never got a real breathing spell.
| Again would come the terrible wind
ing, and again would come the Gull
| ing.
| This awful work would continue
| without break up to sundown, bar
| ring few moments we got to snatch
bite of food. At sundown we made
| fast to the Gredges. washed up the
deck. and made for the nearest cove or
harbor. Arriving there, we let go the
anchor. and took in and furled the
| sails. After that came supper, and
| then we filed. wet. weary and detected.
| into the fo'castle. The day was ended.
| Still there were fine moments in the
| life, as there are fine moments in all
| lives. however sad or hard they may be.
1t was fine to stand on the foredeck of
| the little schooner and feel her rushing
| towards the harbor when our days
work was done. II gave one sense of
rest. a sense of peace. The jib of the
| schooner stood out like the wing of
| giant bat. | used to think and wonder
about many things then. l used TO
wonder how long l would be dredger.
| Though the life was hard, still in a sort
of a way it appealed to me. Being
| faced with grim iron facts has charm
| of its own.
| The dredgers had a saying that if
you ever once got the dredging mud on
you. you would always come back to
| il again. And. indeed. there were fell
lows who had been at it years and
years. At the beginning of every oys-
| ter season they would turn up in Bal
\ :: oh Of
pare notes as TO what they had been do
ing since the last season.
Often there were black tragedies in
the life. Bodies of men We're found
floating in the bay. They had been
murdered and pitched overheard by
the captains and mates.
As rule the captains were a lot of
| brutal bullies. If man didn't have the
fighting instinct strong in him he was
very apt to get knocked about. If you
sailed down the bay with some cap
tains you had to be ready to go the
whole length of the rope. You had to
be ready to out with your sheath-knife
and give the whole blade of it into the
mate or captain who offered to strike
YOU. In no other way could you keep
up your style as man. Fighting back
with your fists wouldn't be worth a
rap. You would be knocked fiat with
the butt of revolver and like enough
get the life kicked out of you. Some
captains used TO have loaded revolvers
! living within grasp while the men were
actually working over the oyster bed.
There were laws. to be sure. against
the ill-using and killing of men, but the
| laws didn't work.
\ word as to the way we used to get
our food. First the captain and the
mate would eat. They, of course, would
have clean plates and clean knives and
forks. When they had finished eating.
two of the men would be called in, and
the cook would ladle out the food for
them on the plates that the captain
and the mate had just used. When
! these had finished two more would be
called in. and so on. till everyone on
board had eaten. During the whole
course of the meal the two plates and
the knives and forks would not be
washed. You had to eat from the
dirty plate of another man. or two
other men, or four other men, as the
case may be. If you were out of favor
with the captain, you kept till the
last. The idea was to take up as little
time as possible in eating. and save the
cook trouble.
1 remember getting into a row over
4 L.