Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-08-30
THE OYSTERS WE EAT
In the Dawn Of Thursday Next the
Oyster Fleet VIII sall--Greatest
Shipping Point In the v. s.
at Our Doors
BY GEORGE NOX Mccain

TWO hundred and odd sailboats will slip
l. their hawsers or raise their anchors in
the gray dawn of next Thursday morning
to hurry out into the hook shaped blight on
the South Jersey Coast known, the world
over as Maurice River Cove.
The oyster feet will then start on its
seasons work.
They will sail from Bvave and Maurice
River with captains that hail from Port
Norris, Heislerville, Newport and Fortes-
cue.
with few exceptions, every boat, in addi-
tion to its spread of canvas, Will carry
auxiliary power-gasoline engines-to assist
the sea breeze.
A great oil monopoly maintains gaso-
line station at Bivalve solely to supply the
oyster fleet.
Each boat will be dream Of white--white
paint and white canvas. 1t will be "dolled
up till it shines like n baby's face.
TNIIE Jersey oyster gets a respite during
L July and August. So does the oyster
man.
1t has been practically impossible to get
'half dozen on the she'll anywhere of late
years in midsummer.
A wise New Jersey law has decreed this
in the interest of what the country editor
calls I'VE luscious bivalve."
There is n loophole, though. Oystermen
who cater to unreasonable appetities can
trouble that does not pay the cost.
Prior to July he can dump oysters on
the Cape shore at a point between Maurice
Cove and Cape May Point. Then during
the prescribed months he can redredge and
ship them to market.
Maurice River and Bivalve, at the mouth
and on opposite sides of the Maurice River,
are practically one. Their 400 feet Of
continuous oyster wharvcs are separated
only by 200 yards of water.
You can "hollcr' across the stream.
1t is the greatest oyster shipping center
in the United States.
OVER 400 boats are licensed, or regis
~ tered. from these twin villages.
They are unkempt little fishing hamlets Of
two 'story, and, mostly, unpainted frame
houses
At Bivalve there is one main street, two
stores quaint little Methodist church and
n street car line that ends in a sand pile
at the bottom of n telephone pole.
The trolley tracks run in waves like a
Malay creese.
Between Port Norris and Bvalve the car
does everything but loop the loop.
1t is called the Mosquito Express. 1t runs
at intervals of seventy five minutes.
The oyster wharves on either side the
river are 700 feet long. They rest on piles
driven into the sloping tide swept banks of
Maurice River.
MOST of the sailors who man the oyster
4Vl fleet are Negroes. They come from
Baltimore. mostly. A few are from Phila-
delphia. There are six TO ten men to n boat.
They are paid 500 n month and their
board. The board is of the best. for the
work is hard. 1t includes four meals day.
All the fleet officers are white men. They
are usually owners or partners in the bust
ness.
\ visitor is perfectly safe in addressing
any white man in Port Norris as Cap
tain unless he is driving a team or man
handling n whcebarrow.
Every able bodied man in this fine little
town is, has been, or hopes to be captain of
an oyster boat. Hence the safety of the
application.
The average oysterboat is fifty-fve feet
over all. There is one ambitious soul who
talks of building one eighty eight feet over
all.
The United States Custom House is
little brown 10 by II shack that stands by
itself on the straggly Main street.
Bivalve. with its population of 125 souls,
has really and truly United States Gus
tom House. 1t needs a coat of paint. Its
annual window washing is scheduled to take
place tomorrow.
4 typewriter legend tackled to the door
reads: