The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-08-25
1905 Arch St, Philadelphia, Pa.
CARIBBEAN FISHING.
Work Not Well Observation-Disclosures
ness of the water.

/ From the New York Tribune.
| The fishermen of the Caribbean ISL
ands have hard time making asliv-
! ing The water of that wonderful
! tropical sea is deep and beautifully
blue but there are some reefs of coral
around the islands. and in the north
ern and northeastern portions there
are extensive shoals, called banks.
| One of the most remarkable of these
is west and southwest of the Island Of
| Saba, and is called the Saba bank
The coral is so white and the water is
so clear over this great fishing ground
that the sailors of olden times were
scared when they saw the bottom from
the decks of their ships, and thought
| they were going aground. When the
| sounding line was paid out, however,
| they were amazed to learn that it was
from eight to fifteen fathoms from the
surface to the rocks so plainly seen.
Now the official sailing directions of
the United States navy state that, not
outstanding the fact that the bottom
is so easily seen, it Is safe for the larg-
est ships to cross this shoal. Near the
islands of Antigua, Anguilla. st. Mar
tins and Sombrero there are also ex-
tensive shoals, and there are good
| fishing banks southwestward from st.
Croix and southeastward from Porto
Rico.
SmacIss of the Antilles.
The fishermen of the West Indies go
to sea in sailing vessels or smacks very
| much like those of the Feulton market
fishermen, but the small boats they
| carry are inferior to the dories of the
| New York ships. They are round bot
toned, coffin-shaped affairs that man
/ ctr L.
tomside up. 1t takes considerable skill
| In balancing to manage one of these
boats even in smooth water. How they
live III a choppy sea is one of the Car
ibbean mysteries. The fishermen of
the Antilles, however, are evidently
In the secret, for they ride the waves
in these rollicking and unstable boats
as safely and as gracefully as the
American fisherman is rocked in his
dory.
The Goldfish, hake~and haddock never
visit those far southern waters They
want smack of frost In their element
which is not to be had south of the
gulf stream. The lazy sea bass stays
north of Cuba and San Domingo. He
thrives in the gulf of Mexico, but he
wants none of the Caribbean sea- Even
the nimble bluefish, which comes north
only In warm weather, never goes
south as far as the Anagada, Virgin
his belly on one side and both eyes on
the other" as a bright New York boy
once put 1t, is not to be found south
of the tropic of Cancer, and even the
mullet, which is so plentiful in the gulf
of Mexico that acres of them are often
seen lying with the heads of one tier
overlapping the tails of another never
strays below Porto Rico.
Flying Fish.
The most plentiful surface fish in
the Caribbean sea is the flying fish,
| of which there are several varieties.
| Every ship that passes scares up great
schools of these spry little fellows,
| which can fly fifty to one hundred
yards as swiftly and as gracefully as
| bird. This fish is considered a great
/ delicacy throughout the Caribbean ISL
ands. The method of catching ii Is
| unique. The waters are baited with
fishheads and fish that are not edible,
/ ground fine like the 'chum of our
| bluefishermen. When the water is
! alive with flying fish feeding on this
"chum' the fishermen cast large cir
cular nets with heavy lead sinkers
around the edge so they spread out
| fiat on the water. There is a draw
! string. and when the sinkers have carr
ried the edge of the net three or four
| feet below the surface, a smart pull
closes 1t like bag and II is hauled
| in and emptied. While the method is
| the same as that of catching mullet
| on the west coast of Florida, the catch
/ is never so large.
| The staple fish of these tropical wat
| ers is the redsnapper. Whether the bill
! of fare in a West Indian hotel offers
fish, fresh fish, redsnapper of merely
snapper makes no difference. Red
snapper is what is served when the
order goes to the kitchen. This really
excellent fish is caught with the hook
| on coral reefs or banks. 1T is for him
that the fisherman braves wind and
weather. He is the Goldfish of the Ca
ribbean, but he cannot be cured, and
must be eaten fresh.
Inspecting the Botfom.
The island fishermen have a way Of
informing themselves of the character
of, the bottom and the presence OF the
| redsnapper by d device called the wa
ter telescope. 1t is merely a square
tube, three or four feet long. When
one end is placed in the water, a per-
son with his eyes at the opposite end
can clearly see the bottom, even in
twenty fathoms depth The dark tube
| simply cuts off the light which
would otherwise be reflected from the
surface, and prevents it from obscur-
ing the less brilliantly Illuminated
depths. The same appliance is used on
the coral reefs of the Bermuda ISL
ands.
West Indian fishing village is pic
turesque, especially it, as is one at
Nevis, it is situated in the edge of a
grove of cocoanut palms. The odd fol-
iage and slender trunks of these trees
afford the finest possible background
for the rude shanties and drying nets.
! The best sailors in the Caribbean ISL
ands are the men Of Saba. They are
of Dutch descent, and before the tinf-
Der on their islands was exhausted they
/ built boats in their village in the crater
of Saba mountain, and lowered them
down the mountainside to the sea. The
/ proximity of Saba bank has made them
great fishermen. The fishermen Of st.
/ Kits. Nevis. Montsesrat, Antigua, st.
Martins and Gau1aloupe are also ex-
perts, Barbados Is the center of flying
fish catching.
In September when tropical hurrt-
canes are frequent only the hoidest OF
the fishermen put 10 sea. and OF them
many never return. The storms OF the
autumn often practically devastate
whole islands In a day or night. When
the facts that nearly all the islands
have volcanoes which may burst into
eruption ~ amy instant. the liability or
hurricanes and the limited number 81
the varieties of edible fish are cansgd-
cred, 40 American has cause 10 envy
Abe fisherman Of the caribbeea hts lot