838 



HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



(<) THE SPONGE TRADE. 

 9. CHARACTER AND EXTENT OF THE NEW YORK SPONGE TRADE. 



New York City is the principal port of entry in this country for all sponges, both foreign and 

 domestic. A few other places receive small quantities of foreign sponges from time to time, gen- 

 erally brought in by sea-captains on private speculation, but all the regular importing and receiv- 

 ing houses are located in New York. The other ports which receive occasional supplies of foreign 

 sponges are, according to the custom-hoitse records, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, 

 and San Francisco. The same records show that during the past sixteen years the custom-house 

 valuation of sponges imported into New York City, was about $1,700,000; while the importations 

 at all of the other places combined, during the same period, amounted to only about $200,000. 

 The quantity of Florida sponges received at New York City for the year 1879 was about 205,000 

 pounds, valued at something over $200,000. 



There are eight principal sponge-houses in New York City, of which six deal in all the foreign 

 and domestic grades, the remaining two importing the Mediterranean kinds only. It can be safely 

 said that nearly all the Florida sponges sold pass through New York. None are exported direct 

 from Key West, and only about $10,000 worth are exported annually from New York to foreign 

 countries, principally England, France, and Germany. About one-half of the Bahama sponges 

 exported yearly from Nassau come to this country, the remainder going to Europe. Some Bahama 

 sponges are also sent to New York for shipment to Europe. 



According to the statements of several New York dealers, the quantity of Bahama sponges 

 imported into New York is, by bulk, two or three times as great as the quantity of sponges brought 

 there from Florida, and the imports of Mediterranean sponges equal, in the same way, the com- 

 bined quantities of Bahama and Florida sponges received. Florida and Bahama sponges are sent 

 to New York mostly in tightly compressed bales weighing from 30 to 200 pounds apiece, but a 

 few are also received in cases, weighing from 20 to 125 pounds each. Mediterranean sponges are 

 imported in wooden cases, weighing 25, 50, and 100 pounds each. The Florida sponges are shipped 

 to New York mostly by steamer. 



The wholesale prices of the various grades of sponges were given as follows in the New York 

 market quotations for 1880 : 



Table showing the wholesale prices of sponges in Neiv TorTc City in 1880. 



From this table it will be noted that some sponges are graded according to the uses to which 

 they are put, and also that the more costly foreign grades are entirely omitted, probably because 

 of their great variation in price, dependent upon their size and shape. 



