56 FISHERIES OF THE COASTAL WATERS OF FLORIDA. 



belonging at various places from Key West to Apalachicola. Nearly 

 100 "crawls," in which the sponges are cleaned, have been built near 

 by. Quite a fleet of vessels that take out custom house papers at Tampa, 

 Cedar Keys, and elsewhere are owned at Tarpon Springs, although the 

 principal part of the sponges landed here are from outside vessels. 



The sponge industry of Tarpon Springs (or Anclote) is more extensive 

 than that of any other place on the Florida coast except Key West. 

 The recent increase in the business Las been noteworthy, and it seems 

 probable that the favorable position of the place with reference to the 

 sponge-grounds will result in a still further development of the industry, 

 which will make Tarpon Springs a formidable rival of Key West. 



The sponge vessels which may be credited to this section in 1895 

 numbered 13. Their tonnage ranged from to 20, and their crews 

 consisted of 7 to 13 men. They are equipped similarly to the Key West 

 vessels as to dingeys, hooks, poles, water glasses, etc. The aggregate 

 value of these vessels, with their outfits, was $23,340, and their combined 

 crews numbered 125, fully 90 per cent of whom were negroes from the 

 Bahama Islands. The stock of the vessels was from a few hundred 

 dollars to over $4,800, depending on the number of trips and other 

 contingencies, the average being about $1,800. 



Besides the vessels of over 5 tons burden, there are a few others 

 that engage in the sponge fishery in this region. These usually carry 

 3 or 5 men, and their catch is correspondingly small. 



The foregoing fleet was augmented in the latter part of 1895 and in 

 189G by a number of sponge vessels from Key West that were perma- 

 nently transferred to this district, several of which have been credited 

 to Key West in 1895. 



The quantity of sponges taken by the sponge fleet of this section in 

 1895 was 18,393 pounds, valued at $30,875. The following table shows 

 the extent to which each kind of sponge was represented in the catch. 

 As will be seen, the quantity of other sponges besides the sheepswool 

 taken in this section is insignificant. In quality the sheepswool sponges 

 which enter into the trade of Tarpon Springs are unsurpassed and are 

 worth considerably more per pound than are the sheepswool sponges 

 handled at Key West, owing to the admixture of the less valuable key 

 sponges at the latter place. 



The lay on the Tarpon Springs vessels is somewhat different to that 

 at Key West. The owner supplies the provisions and other outfit of 

 the vessel and receives one-half the gross sales, the crew sharing the 

 other half equally. The captain, however, is paid 8 per cent of the 



