CRAB INDUSTRY OF CHESAPEAKE BAY. 19 
is a windlass operated by the engine and controlled from the pilot 
house. The dredges are hauled in alternately and their contents 
dumped on deck by two men, one working forward and one aft of the 
dredge. The dredge is then dropped overboard again. The crabs 
are raked from the débris by small hooks or the hands and shoveled 
into barrels, any dead individuals or any so badly crushed as to be 
unserviceable for cooking being thrown back. As there are no sponge 
crabs at this season of the year and since very few of less than 5 inches 
in length are caught in the dredges, culling to comply with the law is 
a short task. The débris is shoveled overboard. Dredging may be 
carried on in water varying in depth from a few feet to upward of 
100 feet. 
Ten barrels of crabs a day constituted about an average catch of a 
dredge boat during the years just previous to the issuance of this 
report. From day to day the catch may vary widely, from 1 barrel 
or 2 to 50 or more in exceptional cases. A buoy is sometimes left to 
mark a spot where the crabs are fairly abundant. They often move 
to another region, however, in the course of a few hours. 
RUN BOATS AND BUY BOATS. 
Scrape boats and dredge boats deliver their own catch directly to 
the crab house. They are enabled to do this as they are fairly large 
and equipped with sails or power or both. Much of the crabbing, 
however, which is done with the dip net and the trot-line, is carried 
on in regions so far from any dealer that it is convenient or impos- 
sible for the crabber, with his relatively small and often unequipped 
boat, to deliver his catch. To meet this difficulty, what are known 
as ‘run boats” or ‘“‘buy boats’? buy up the catch at these distant 
points and convey it to the crab house. When the boat is owned by 
a dealer and its captain is working on a commission, it is referred to 
as a “run boat.’”’ When the eaptain is buying crabs on his own 
responsibility and selling them where he chooses, it is styled a “ buy 
boat.’ These boats are from 40 to 60 feet long and usually are 
equipped with both sails and engine. In many cases owners of dredge 
boats use their craft as run boats during the summer season. The 
run-boat operator usually is allowed 25 cents profit per barrel. 
Seventy-five to 100 barrels may be carried on such a boat. Trips 
are usually made each day to the desired region, where the boat is 
anchored in a cove or the mouth of a river, and the crabbers gather 
about and sell their catch from their boats (PI. IV, fig. 1). sup- 
ply of bait is kept upon the run boat and this is sold by the pound 
to the trot-line crabbers. 
As stated above, much of the catch of the western shore of Virginia 
is sold to run boats operating from Crisfield or Hampton. There are 
very few run boats or buy boats running from any other than these 
two places. 
PREPARATION FOR MARKET. 
A few of the hard crabs are shipped alive in barrels to the large 
markets by the individual crabbers. Nearly all of the catch, how- 
ever, whether hard or soft, is sold directly or indirectly through the 
medium of run boats to crab shippers, ‘‘shedders,”’ or packers. These 
