to the boom. The loop in the rope on the boom 

 is put around the upper end of the hooking pole, 

 which is then fitted into a hole in the stem 

 post of the dinghy. The dinghy man lies down in 

 the boat with his head and shoulders over the 

 stern and holds the water glass in the eddy 

 behind the dinghy with little effort. This allows 

 the powerboat to move along while the men in 

 their dinghies search the bottom. When a 

 sponge is seen, the man jerks the pole free 

 of the stem hole and the rope lopp, and, if the 

 man is quick, the sponge is hooked while the 

 dinghy is still moving forward. The powerboat 

 swings around, and the dinghy is again attached 

 to the powerboat by the same method. Thirty or 

 thirty-five miles of ground may be covered in 

 one day and a large number of good-quality 

 sponges can be taken. This method is good from 

 the conservation point of view because smaller 

 and poorly shaped sponges cannot be taken eco- 

 nomically. 



Diving boats working out of Tarpon Springs 

 are designed after the original diving boats 

 used by the Greek spongers in the Mediter- 

 ranean. They are now diesel-powered, and the 

 air pump is powered directly from the main 

 engine. The boats are heavy and seaworthy. 



The crew is made up of a captain (who 

 usually also serves as either the engineer or 

 one of the divers), two divers, an engineer, 

 a lifeline tender, cook, and deckhand. In good 

 weather the two divers put in a 12-hour day 

 between them, the actual time underwater 

 being about 10 hours. The diving dress is 

 similar to the standard deep-water equipment. 

 The diver jumps off the starboard side of the 

 bow and can support himself by hanging onto 

 the weighted dropline that hangs from the bow. 



The diver's sponge hook is attached to a short 

 pole about 2 feet in length and is similar to that 

 used by the hooker. As the sponges are 

 gathered, they are kept in a fish- net bag with a 

 jointed- ring top, the stephani. The diver can 

 easily control the short pole, so the sponge can 

 usually be torn cleanly and carefully from the 

 bottom with a sidewise pull. 



Cleaning of Sponges 



Once aboard the boat, the sponges are first 

 squeezed to initiate the degeneration of the 

 living material, then piled base down to aUow 



the "gurry" or decaying matter to drain from 

 the sponge. The pile is covered with wet burlap 

 sacking so that the sponges will not dry out. 



In warm weather the sponge decays fairly 

 rapidly and by the next morning the sponges 

 that were collected the day before are well on 

 their way toward final cleaning. During the 

 day the sponges are turned and wet down 

 several times and by midday or midafter- 

 noon, they are ready for final cleaning. In 

 cleaning, the sponges are rinsed in clean sea 

 water and thrown hard against the deck to 

 knock out sand and particularly the small 

 snapping shrimp that lived in the larger 

 canals of the sponge. The outside of the sponge 

 is scraped with a knife to remove the last 

 traces of the "skin." As a final step, the 

 sponges are wrung out and strung on coarse 

 cord as a "line," each line holding 150 sponges. 

 At this point well-cleaned sponges are light 

 tan in color but the bottom of the base and 

 inside may be almost black. As the sponges 

 dry in the sun, the black color disappears. 

 After drying they are stored in the forward 

 hold of the boat. 



If the rotting is allowed to continue too 

 long, the spongin fibers are greatly weakened; 

 the sponge is limp and of poor quality. Wool 

 sponges cannot be cleaned in fresh water as this 

 causes them to be dark in color and hard in 

 texture. 



Selling and Sharing System 



Ashore the sponges are stored in the Sponge 

 Exchange, and the day before the sale they are 

 graded and strung on 5-foot lengths of line, 

 known as bunches. Each bunch is made up of 20 

 to 30 or more sponges depending on size. The 

 sponges are sold to the packers at auction. The 

 seller has the right to refuse a bid that he 

 believes to be too low, and this may be done if 

 there is any hope that the market price will 

 rise. 



One and one-half to two percent of the selling 

 price is withheld by the Exchange, as a charge 

 for the use of the storage sheds and other 

 facilities. If the sponger is a member of the 

 local Greek Orthodox Church, 3 percent of the 

 price may be withheld and half of this is given 

 to the church. 



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