The Penn's Grove record., 1908-08-28

Taking Shell

About the middle of February,
when the north is shivering in wintry
winds, with an occasional dash of
snow, the turtlers of Nassau are get
ting their little vessels ready for the
summer cruise in the waters of the
Bahama Islands, running as far south
as Grand Turk and the Caicos group,
and even to the waters of Santo Do
mingo, in search of the highly priced
hawkblll turtle-in zoology Eretmo-
chelys imbricata, explains Mr.. Joseph
A. Howells, in the New York Sun.
This is the turtle that furnishes the
tortoise-shell, also called caret.
These shells are worth from IS to
$40 a pound, according to thickness
and markings.
A turtle boat is ordinarily a little
schooner about thirty feet long and
they vary in size. They are seawor-
thy and simple in rig. The mer-
chants of Nassau fit out hundreds of
these vessels, each of which carries a
number of small boats, with two men
to each boat, a cook, who has charge
of the vessel when the men are off
after turtles, and an extra man on
the larger vessels.
The usual equipment is about as
follows: For fifteen IONS or smaller
vessels, five boats and eleven men;
twenty tons, eight boats and eighteen
men; thirty tons, ten boats and twen-
ty-two men. The small boats are
about eleven feet long, aat-bottomed
and quite seaworthy. When not in
use they are nested amidships on
each side of the mast.
Each small boat is equipped with
an a for sculling, a water glass, a
wooden box twelve inches long and
ten inches square, in one end of
which is fitted, water-tight, an ordin-
airy window pane; fifty or sixty faith
m of light rope attached to a conf
cal net six feet deep with six-by-eight-
inch mesh. at the bottom of which is
a half-inch iron hoop four and one
half feet in diameter, and weighted
with lead.
When the vessel reaches the hunt
ing grounds, the boats are put over
and scatter about for a mile or more.
Each boat has an expert turtler, who
lies at the bow with his face close to
the water glass, which is immersed
three or four inches under the surface
of the water. Through this he
searches the bottom from six to TWEEN
ty or thirty fathoms below, which in
those clear waters is plainly visible.
The man in the stern SOULS the
boat, the fisherman signaling with
with his bare feetthe course he wants
taken. When he sees a turtle he
carefully lowers the net and drops it
owe his game, which Immediately
tries to escape, but becomes entan-
gled in the meshes and is soon land
AS the hawkbill is hunted for the
shell on it's back, when taken aboard
the vessel it is killed and the shell is
removed. If it is wanted, the best
parts of the meat r saved for food,
but the rest is cast into the sea.
Thousands of pounds of soup mate
rial are thus wasted, for next to the
green turtle, the hawkbill is the best
for soup that is caught. If a canning
outfit were attached to a turtler, a
large amount of valuable material
could be saved.
Turtle fishing is attended with the
proverbial fisherman's luck. Some
times the crew - which works on
shares - will take $50 pounds in
three months, and again not half as
much. Sometimes the catch in three
months will amount to $1,000. The
value of the shells varies greatly.
The average hawkbill will be worth
from SIS to $25. The most valuable
are those termed "laneern backed"
and the clear shell is worth s25 a
pound.