The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1933-01-28


all our drinking-water gone and
with sunset turning the sea to
blood, our engine quit cold. We
lay there a long time as darkness
fell, and a fine off-shore breeze
blew us toward the next land to
leeward-Mexico. Silvery moon
peeped out, stars winked, the
zoadical light began to glow; the
tinkering fishermen made dim
Esilhouettes against that lovely
tropical night. A steamer bore
down on us, but shifted her course
before ramming us-praise be!
"Sea-fire" twinkled with pale
green CLEANS; and in the damp
nets, whenever stirred, phosphore-
scene glowed and vanished.
AS for me, / smoked and won
.dered that at worst we might
reach Mexico in a week or ten
days, and-though we had no
water-that at all events we
couldn't starve to death. Not with
20 sharks aboard! But after long
labor and guessing at what was
Ilwrong, the crew got our engine
started once more. Glad sound!
Long after dark we reached the
wharf, with as bloody and ma
lodorous a cargo as ever / had seen
since my seal-fishing days.
Working Up the Sharks
Next day I followed still fur
ther the sharks career, at a fac
tory of the Ocean Leather Com
pany. "a very ancient and fish
like odor' greets you at the fac
tory. You see a big derrick for
hosting the sharks to the wharf /;
huge reels where a white man is
winding up, untangling and re-
pairing nets; a powerful colored
man sharpening knives at a bloody
grindstone; flensing-tables with
workers skinning hides; a shed
where hides are stored and other
work is done; also casks full of
rotting ivers, and extensive
'flakes" or wire racks on which
the fins are sun-dried.
The sharks used vary greatly in
size. Some of the nurses are only
four to six feet long, while some
of the leopards, hammerheads and
leopards may run to 20 feet and
weigh perhaps 1000 pounds.
All the rough work is done by
sweating, barefooted colored men.
These powerful fellows can flay a
big fish in only two or three
minutes. They carefully cut all
the adhering flesh from the hide,
which is salted and put in the sun
to dry for "a hours. Then the
workers pack these hides in casks,
sailing and treading them down.
The sight of barelegged colered
men Jumping the hides down, in
big casks, there in that gloomy
shed, makes a picture you do not
readily forget.
Nearly every part of the shark
lis used. The oil is almost en-
tirely confined to the liver, and
cannot be found in the flesh.
Nurse sharks have less oil than the
other kinds, and leopards more,
some specimens of the latter
yielding as high as 80 gallons. All
kinds are mixed together. As it is
dried out by steam, from sun-rot-
ted livers, it certainly makes a
| rare perfume. | have a suspicion
that some of it becomes choice
cod-liver oil. Most of it, however,
is used for tanning leather.
| The refuse is worked up for
fertilizer, while the heads, when
boiled, yield large amount Of
Iglue. IHsulin; valuable in treat.
ling diabetes, is obtained from the
pancreatic gland. The fins are
fsent to New York, for export to
China, where they are in good
demand as food for the Celestials
I Sawfish fins are rated the most
Edelica.e eating, nurse fins of the
lowest duality. The former sell
Iifor some $3.50 a porad, while the
latter bring only 20 to 80 cents
| The meat is cut thin and sailed
/ was told it was sent mostly to
Africa, for food; but like the
Scotchman, ''hae me doots. .
Since witnessing its preparation
/ have always felt a trifle sus.
picious of salt cod. The dried and
salted flesh is almost pure white
land of the consistency of dried
Goldfish. After all, why shouldn't
shark-meat be good eating? /:
ii only q prejudice that makes us
rebel at it?
The leather, when finally tan,
ned and finished in the north, is q
high-grade product, hammerhead
being rated as best except foE
shoes. For this purpose | under.
stand 1t is rarely or never used
The other shark-Ieathers. however,
make shoes Of the best. Every
kind Of shark.ieather is used fol
I,something--if not for shoes. then
L fos. r,r,cka4 .ho..ks ks;,f ,Sn.nr salt