New-York tribune., 1905-08-16
HARBOR WOOD SALV4GERS
Many Poor Families Supplied scith
Fire from Sea.

Among the 101 different marine activities centred
In this great overgrown city perhaps the strangest
Is that Of salvage driftwood carried on by a
large number Of the poorer tenement house dwell
ers, especially near the waterfronts Every even
ing, just before the sun bows its head in shame in
the black smudge Of Jersey. there puts forth from
points all over the city, from the upper Bronx to
the outernost end Of the Rockaway sand spit a
nondescript feet of these wood salvagers Until
deep darkness turns into of ink both
water and objects upon its surface the busy mas
ters Of these craft at work with pike. pole and
spear. A cold breakfast would stare many of them
in the face many morning should they be un-
successful in their quest.
The problem OF frewood is one of the most press
ing Of the livelihood propositions that poorer resi-
dents Of the city have to deal The methods by
which they meet il land well known. The
half starved Italian woman trudging up Broadway
with pile of broken boards almost as big as her
self on her head is familiar enough. The working
man stalking home at night with half railroad
tie his shoulder is also often seen the streets
But the salvagers of wood from the uneasy waters
of New-York Harbor have done their work in COM
parative seclusion despite the fact that nothing
underhauded has been necessary.
Th- feet Z feet it may be called. being, as it is.
without a head or organization is composed OF
nearly every kind and size OF craft up to schoon-
err II includes RATS. skifs and catboats. a
wheezv old naphtha launch in South Brooklyn is in
the business.
There is sort of tacit organization among the
masters of these saIvagers. It is mutual regard
for one another's rights. a common sight in the
Lower Bay IS two boats making for the same
piece Of pile. A conference over il always results
in the man who lives nearer the point OF capture
carrying off the prize.
The hour Of sunset is taken by the iotsam
hunters not because the senIi-darkness cOnceals
their movements, but because most of them are
day laborers and can only spare the time after
their supper hour TO this work Sunday is excel
lient time for the work. the rivers and bay are
toerably free from commercial and transit craft
then making IL safer for the small boats 10 be
about.
There is certain amount of excitement about
the work Who knows but that any piece of
timber may have attached piece Of iron worth
- cents any junk shop? Then, TOO. there may
be q chunk of brass attached an insignificant
in aftermath in the bottom of some wood gathereI
skid2
the other day d man gathering wood from the
Narrows put Tor a floating log some distance away.
His hook found but little resistance, and the log
turned out 10 be the body OF d man who drowned
himself a week before. A piece of a yachts bin
found in Hell Gate had wrapped about il a shred
Of silk mute message from d tragedy in which
a young girl lost her life in explosion, the in
neT mystery OF which will probably never be re
And SO it goes on this freeing of the bay from
dangerous floating wood. Day after day with the
necessity for bodily warmth and hot food pressing
wraCked by the pains of good days work wrest
from the nav Of the sea the means of satisfvine,
ping generally look upon the traffic with z more
or less favorable eye A comparatively small log
lodged in the propeller Of liner might delay her
Tor days The end of pile breaking Tudder of
. ferryb might throw in dire peril a thousand
lives. Once in the wood salvageT's boat. these
DANGEROUS impediments 70 harbor traffic can do no