442 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
man-day, while the Fillmore averaged $3.63 per man-day, almost 50 per cent 
more. The Greeks not only worked in deeper water, but by curing their catch 
on the boat instead of running in to the crawls at the end of each week they 
lost less time. 
DIVING. 
Prior to 1905 the methods already described were the only ones employed 
‘in the Florida sponge fishery, although Messrs. E. J. Arapian, of Key West, and 
John K. Cheyney, of Tarpon Springs, had each experimented with diving 
apparatus without material results. In the spring of the year mentioned, John 
Cocoris, a Greek, who had been employed in a sponge house at Tarpon Springs, 
became convinced that the methods employed in the Mediterranean could be 
successfully employed on the Bay grounds, and with the financial assistance of 
Mr. Cheyney he began to get together at Tarpon Springs men and material for 
the experiment. He secured from New York a number of his countrymen who 
had had experience in the sponge fisheries of the Mediterranean, remodeled a 
small sloop to suit the purpose of a machine boat, and in April of that year made 
his first trip and took a large quantity of fine sponges. 
The success attending this venture produced considerable excitement 
among those engaged in the industry. Those interested in vessels engaged in 
hooking soon recognized a serious competitor in their business and raised various 
objections to the use of the scaphander, some of which were well founded and 
others baseless. In many instances the real objection was not so much the 
actual or alleged injurious effects upon the beds, but a belief that the divers 
would lower the price of sponges by vastly increasing the supply, and that, 
moreover, they could work with profit under market and weather conditions 
which would make hooking commercially impossible. 
During the following winter the opposition crystallized and certain bills were 
introduced in Congress aiming to prohibit or curtail the use of the scaphander. 
The conflicting interests appeared before the Committee on Merchant Marine 
and Fisheries of the House of Representatives and eventually there were passed 
two bills partaking of the nature of a compromise. On the other hand, sponge 
dealers, buyers, and some vessel owners, together with a number of persons not 
previously connected with the industry, saw apparent opportunity for profitable 
investment, and during the following summer and winter great activity prevailed 
at Tarpon Springs, and to a minor extent at Key West, in getting together diving 
outfits. Diving boats were built in New York, New Orleans, and other distant 
places, some were even brought from Greece, and small schooners were in much 
demand for deposit or living boats. By May, 1906, a little over a year after the 
first successful experiment, there were 50 diving boats at work and 55 more 
awaiting crews, which could not be supplied despite a great influx of Greek 
