The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1911-03-16
SPONGE FISHING IN FLORIDA.
A Vacation Among the Keys That
Can be Made to Pay for Itself.

| fishing among the Florida keys, de-
clared a young married woman. eve
went down to Key West and there
made arrangements to take trip
with a sponger who owned his own
boat, which was also his family
home. When l asked what supplies
we must take along in the way OF
food the question brought hearty
laugh from both the sponger and his
wife, with a chorus of giggles from
their two young daughters
"The wife explained that food was
the one thing they never thought
about down there. All they had to do
was to drop a line overheard for
their meat and take walk along
some beach for fruit, while at any
habitation vegetables were always
to be had for the asking.
"The mistake I made was not
thinking to ask about the water. Be-
fore we were out a week that very
necessary commodity became uncom-
fortably scarce. You see the sponger
had depended on replenishing our
supply from a cistern on a certain
key. When we reached that key it
was found that something or some
body had not only emptied the cis-
tern but destroyed it. That meant
going without water another six
hours, and was not at all enjoyable
for me at least.
"As that was the only time it hap
pened and was the only thing that
was the least bit unpleasant on the
cruise, I always tell it first and then
go on to the charming and unusual
incidents.
ITO begin with the boat We were
in was both commodious and COM
Portable. When it was recommended
to my husband by a merchant he
told us that unless we could go in a
good new boat we might find the odor
of the sponges rather unpleasant be-
fore we finished the trip. We didn't,
not because there weren't enough
sponges taken but because we grad
ually became accustomed to the odor.
"The actual fishing is done by two
or sometimes three persons in a
skiff. On our boat the wife and each
of the girls had a skiff. During the
second week skiff was assigned to
me, and I can truthfully say that 1
never enjoyed any possession more
thoroughly. All we women did was
to scull, while the man who accom-
panied us did the fishing. This man
was supplied with water glass and
a sponge hook.
"This water glass is nothing more
than a wooden bucket with a glass
bottom. The sponge hook is attached
to a thirty-foot wooden pole and is
placed across the gunwales of the
skiff, where it is within reach of the
fishers hand, when by looking
through his glass he finds a sponge
on the bottom of the bay.
cit is one of the oldest sights to
see these sponge fishers sculled about
with their :heads in these wooden
buckets, which are thrust almost rim
deep. in the water. The fisherman's
hand goes back, reaching for the
sponge hook, the sculler stops the
boat until the hook is adjusted about
the roots of the sponge and it is pull
ed up and into the skiff.
Looking through the water glass
at the sponge growing on the bottom
of the bays and rivers some of them
are like fairy trees in fairy forest.
1t almost seems a pity to tear them
up. Once they are out of the water
much of their beauty disappears,
though they are not a bit more un-.
slightly than seaweed. The odor that
so many people object to is produced
by the decomposition of the gelatin
Gus matter.
$50 far as the cost of such a trip
is concerned it can be made to pay
for itself. We paid our way, though
my husband had not planned that
we should. We were taken on the
sponger by the owner for stipulated
price, not very much to our northern
ears, but when one considers the
cheapness of all food supplies and
the simplicity of our accommoda-
tions it was doubtless quite ample to
the boat owner and his thrifty wife.
There was the understanding that
we were to have all the sponges we
took. AS I have been accustomed to
handling canoe and rowboat all my
life it was not long before I could
manage to scull my husband around
in our skiff On two occasions we