438 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
“sighting” with the water glass, and the crew is sent out in the dingeys, two 
men in each, while the odd man, usually the cook, handles the vessel under 
shortened sail and picks up the boats at noon and night, or when signal is 
made by hoisting an oar blade up. 
The men in a boat are called, respectively, the sculler and the hooker, 
the duty of the former being to propel the boat in obedience to the signals 
of the latter and to assist in handling the hooks when necessary. A proficient 
sculler has great command of the boat, stopping it almost on the instant, 
backing, going ahead, or making it spin as if on a pivot, as the exigencies of 
the work require. He will keep at work with easy grace all day long, and much 
of the success of the boat depends upon his skill and willingness. Upon the 
hooker devolves the work of finding and catching the sponges. His station 
is in the waist of the dingey, where he kneels, leaning over the side, watching 
the bottom through the water glass, the hook, with its pole, resting conven- 
iently at hand across the gunwales, where it may be seized upon the instant. 
The position is a trying one physically, especially when the sea is choppy, and 
when the waves grow rough the work is impossible. The sponge glass, or 
bucket with its glass bottom below the surface of the water, operates by dis- 
pelling reflections, and to heighten its efficiency the hooker usually wears a 
large “‘conch”’ straw hat, which cuts off a large part of the direct light when 
his head is thrust well into the mouth of the bucket. By this means the bottom 
may be seen more or less plainly in clear water to depths of 50 feet. 
When a sponge is sighted the sculler, at a word or signal, maneuvers the 
boat into position, the hooker seizes his hook, rests the pole on his shoulder 
as a fulcrum and with his right hand lowers it and inserts the tines into the 
base of the sponge, more or less plainly,seen through the water glass held in 
position with the left hand. In pulling or tearing the sponges from their 
attachment considerable care and skill is required to prevent mutilation, which, 
of course, impairs their value in the markets. They sometimes adhere so 
tightly that it requires the united efforts of both men to loosen them, and in 
most cases more or less of the base of the sponge is left behind to grow anew 
under favorable conditions into a perfect specimen. From this cause, on bars 
which have been long worked, there are found many sponges of considerable 
diameter, but so low and flat that there is no room for the insertion of the 
hooks, and the hookers, much to their disgust, sometimes waste considerable 
~ time in futile efforts to detach them. 
In deep water poles 50 feet long are sometimes employed, and as they 
bow and catch in the water if placed athwart the gunwales they are carried 
fore and aft, the hook over the bow and the other end trailing astern. In 
using these long, heavy poles the sculler always assists the hooker, placing the 
pole on the latter’s shoulder and helping to handle it both in lowering and in 
