Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1903-04-24
.SPONGING AS
AN INDUSTRY
How and Where They are Caught
and Marketed---A Fleet of Six
Hundred vessels---Notes and
Comments Of an Idle Reporter.
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| uuuui GU vCSSoIS..-Nut0S anu
Comments Of an Idle Reporter.
Ect.
| (Staff Correspondenceo the Specta tori
"SpOnging" though an unstaple thing
at best, and among us considered rep
rehensible ~ is to the Bahamas a
leading industry and a big business.
1t Is the support and stay of New Prov
idence island, an enterprise that employs
its thousands and whose value in dol
lars is computed by the hundred of
thousands. This industry in it's mag
nitude is one of the first of the unusu-
al sights to greet the gaze of strang-
ers With us the Importance OF this
interest was first impressed as we ap-
preached the island and as we entered
the harbor. for on both sides of our
steamer and away off into the distance
we could see numerous vessels of the
sponge 1eet-all heading for the port
of Nassau. On arriving at the wharf,
our landing was near the great sponge
market, where the article is bought
and sold in bulk
Few of our party had eyer seen
sponges save in the wicker baskets at
some drug store, but to see them there
filling the warehouses. the wagons,
the boats, and piled up in vacant lots
as high as the second floor of the
houses, was quite another matter
With an inquisitive curiosity, born of
the newspaper profession, began ply
ing questions SO fast to every one 1
met that it ere ated quite little stir
among the lisping negro helpers, so to
see what the matter was the clerk of
the mark ct came hustling up and find
ing that it was only an ''inquistive
Yankee" (the first time 1 was ever
| called that turned me over to native
commission merchant. This man had
been raised among the sponges (so to
speak )and had made fortune handling
them. Together we THAT is y had
most entertaining half day, following
under his polite guidance amid a
wilderness of spOnges. Some idea of
the extent of the traffic in this line
may be had when it is realized that
600 vessels and 200 men are engaged
in the business. This latter number
does not include the warehouse hands
the pickers-or cullers as they are call
ed-the clippers, the packers. or the
teamsters that haul them to and from
the dock. These, added to the figures
above given make quite an impressive
array. Going aboard one of the spong-
| ing vessels at the wharf had my first
view of the article in bulk, as it comes
from the water. The sponge is an
animal life that grows under water,
adhering to the reefs or hard bottom
along the coast in shOal water much in
the same manner as does the oyster.
There is, however, species of sponge
called "Rollers" that do not grow to
the rocks, but roll about OF the bottom
OF the sea-with the ebb and flow of
the tide. When the boats go out for a
days sponging.they are usually mann
ed by crew of twelve, who fish for the
sponges in companies of,twos. One of
the pair armed with long glass tube,
sealed at the end, thrusts it to the bot
tom OF the water where be, looking
down the long glass barrel, moves it
around among the sponges till be sees
one that he wants, then his fishing
companion, with pair of long grap-
ping tongs, takes hold of the sponge
and pinches it off of the rock and
hauls it to the surface Only the large
sponges are pulled, the smaller ones
being left to grow, while some of the
larger ones are left to seed. When
thrown on the deck of the vessel, the
sponge is great living and quivering
jelly fish, that dies after being remcv-
ed from the water. The sponge, as
we see it, is but the carcass, with the
dead flesh all removed. In twenty-four
hours after exposure to air the sponge
is dead-an offensive, Shiny, black and
horrible looking object. 1t is then
taken to shore and there thrown into
large kraals or pens, erected by driv-
ing sharp stakes closely together in
the sandy beach, close enough to the
water to be washed by the action of
the tides. In few days, after most
OF the dead matter is swept out of the
car casses, force of men, with heavy
site ks or clubs, are put into the kraals
and at high tide walk around among the
sponges and beat them about in the
water till every particle of impurity
is removed. Some times the same work
is more slowly but just as effectively
done by sea turtles which are placed
in the pens and who by their constant
movement over and among the spOnges
cleanse them. The carcasses are then
ready for market, and after being
squeezed and dried are taken to Mas.
sau and there, after being sorted, are
offered for sale In the open market.
Those of our readers who have seen a
wholesale tobacco market will under.
stand the n,odatS oper0ndi of sale-the
spOnges after being sorted-for there
are many grades, are heaped in sepa.
rate piles or pens in rows over the
warehouse floor with cardboard tag
bearing the owners name attached.
The buyers then pass through the
rows and make their bids on the yart-
GUS lots, record of which is kept
by the clerk of the market, who when
the bidding is over, makes the an
nouncement of sales. From market
the sponges are hauled to factories,