The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1933-01-26
The KEY WEST SHARK FISHERY
Making A Profit Out OF A Loss,
An Asset OF A Liability
(By GEORGE ALLAN ENGLAND)

I long regarded the shark mere
tiy as an enemy, a destroyer,
total loss, that it is good news to
knew this vuracious killer can be
turned to substantial prefit.
1t was my good fortune not long
ago to sail with one of the Key
West sharE-boats, and to witness
the entire process from the setting
of the nets to the final yield of oil.
leather and other products. Be it
noted at once that nets are used ;
lgilEnets of extremely heavy cord,
WIth about a ten-inch mesh. Spear
ing or hand-lining would be far
! TOO slow and laborious, 1t is no
holiday sport to hook big shark.
Such a one can tow a good sized
launch for hours. or can pull man
! right out of a boat. if the man
gets his line fouled around arm
ior leg. As for snubbing the line,
] that would merely part it. the
! heaviest line being only like cot
| ton thread when big shark is
I@oncernel. GiIl-ncts are therefore
! the only practicable means of TAX
4 ing sharks. These nets are some
! 300 yards long, IS to 20 feet from
head to foot. and are weighted
with lead and bouyed with corks or
with cypress plugs. They are set
i'll waters where sharks abound
land never fail to catch a goodly
number, day after day.
"Be en- hand carly" the pro-
prietor of the shark-business had
told me the night before. "We're
igoing to get started by daylight. I"
So there / was on the wharf in
the vogue and starlit warmth of a
| Key West early-dawn hour. Lights
CLEANED from sailing-craft and
steamers; long wimples undulated
over smooth waters. Aboard the
| shark-boat, the crew of three
husky colored men we're tinkering
the engine and getting the nets
ready. Several other boats lay
near, the shark-fleet consisting of
several units; but ours seemed to
.be the only one going out that
! day.
/ went aboard, sat down on an
immense pile of nets. and waited
developments while I smoked q
comforting pipe. As one of the
barefooted sharkers went for q
big Spanish wine-jar full of water,
and day turned from gray to rose
Ipink over the harbor, ! took stock
of the boat and equipment. The
boat was about 80 feet long and
very broad Of beam, so that hoist
ing the sharks aboard might not
capsize her. She had q small euti-
| dy, powerful three-eylinder en-
CINE, broad seats ell around the
sides, and a stubby derrick fer
hosting in the catch.
As the crew arranged their gear,
! they made wondrous silhouettes
against the growing wonder of
dawn. They loaded net-anchofs
aboard, and bamboo poles perhaps
twelve feet long, which they LASH
| ed upright to the derrick. These
! poles were weighted with leaden
fballs at the bottom; then a little
higher up, with cork floats; and
at the top, with flags black or
white. Ropes attached to nests
OF floats were taken on, the floats
reminding me of nests of huge
wooden eggs.
Got ebheryt-ing aboa'd now, is
lyo'?" asked dark figure from the
Wharf.
"Sho' isl Let 'er gor'
| The dark figure pushed us off.
Our ebony Hercules of a captain
eranked the engine, which stutter-
led and began barking. Our clumsy
boat backed into harbor whipping
with exquisite hues of jade and
emerald and turquoise. We were
loft, to the Hunting of the Shark !
Toward the Shaking Grounds
Only those familiar with Florida
waters know the lovely clearness
| and the unspeakable beauty of
these enchanted seas. Strange.
that here should live the most
feroeious and bloodthirsty mon-
sters of Old Ocean! The man-eat-
ing leopard sharks, so justly fear
ed by Florida fishermen! AT q
good pace. for ali her seeming
clumsiness, our boat gathered
speed past the F. E. C. Docks and
the Cuban Car-Ferry, while gulls
on crooked wings circled against
the daybreak.
On our port hand we left q big
cotton-ship unloading 10 lighters
on q reef where she had gone
Eaground; and so we headed north
least over lustrous seas that, with
the rising of blood-red sun, glow
ed like infinite rubies. No finer
Ipieture could be conceived than
the figures Of the shark-fishermen
against that dawning glory. Bare
footed. with ragged dungarees.
with huge tattered straw hats and
reeking pipes, they might have
lstepped bodily out of the tropical
pages Of Lafcadio Hearn.
| This" l thought, eontentedly