644 



MARINE PRODUCTS OF COMMERCE 



each of which is provided with 2 large doors. The lobsters are removed from the 

 cars by means of dip nets attached to long wooden handles. When in use the live- 

 cars are usually moored in a convenient spot close to shore. 



Transportation of Live Lobsters. On Vessels. A large proportion of Maine lob- 

 sters are caught along shores which have no direct rail connections, and they 

 must, therefore, be transported by water either to a market or to a railroad sta- 



FiG. 30-5. The most usual 

 shipping container for live lob- 

 sters for the market. There are 

 some variations of this method 

 in that boxes are used. The gen- 

 eral construction and design of 

 them are the same. 



(.Courtesy U. S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service) 



tion where they are shipped on ice to distant markets. Lobsters which are shipped 

 in smacks are carried in wells, usually between the pilothouse and the enginehouse. 

 Small holes in the bottom of the wells keep them filled with fresh sea water. These 

 well-smacks have regular routes on which they visit various fishermen and pur- 

 chase the lobsters which they are holding in their live-cars, and transport them 

 to the city markets. 



By Rail. Lobsters are expressed by being packed in barrels with ice. Second- 

 hand sugar or flour barrels are ordinarily used as containers. A cake of ice weigh- 

 ing about 100 pounds is split lengthwise into 3 pieces. One of these pieces is placed 

 upright in the center of a barrel and the lobsters are packed snugly all about it. 

 When the barrel is nearly full, the lobsters are covered with seaweed or paper and 

 the rest of the space is filled with cracked ice. A piece of sacking is then placed 

 over the top and fastened under the upper hoop of the barrel (Fig. 30-5). 



There are several modifications of this method of packing lobsters for ship- 

 ment, but they all follow the same general idea. The ice is usually placed in sep- 

 arate compartments so that the water from it will not come in contact with the 

 lobsters. Recently, specially treated corrugated paper cartons have been devised 



