CRAB INDUSTRY OF CHESAPEAKE BAY. 7 
a straight wooden handle 6 or 7 feet in length. It is used in shallow 
water and is carried in the hands, the crabber reaching into the 
water from a boat and scooping up the crab. This instrument is 
used especially in taking soft crabs, though some peelers are taken 
with it. It is used in the mouths of creeks and in the shallow waters 
of coves and inlets and in other places where the bottoms are not 
suitable for the use of the scrape. 
SoraPe (PI. I, fig. 1).—This consists essentially of a triangular iron 
frame with a base varying in width from 2 to 5 feet. A cotton-mesh 
bag is attached to the upper side and extends about 6 feet behind 
the scrape. The scrape is dragged by a rope fastened to the apex, 
the base, which bears no teeth, coming in contact with the ground. Two 
scrapes are usually operated from a sailboat (PI. I, figs 2), varying in 
length from 20 to 60 feet. One scrape is dragged on each side of the 
boat, each being hauled in alternately by hand} and the contents 
dumped into shallow boxes attached to the side of the boat (Pl. L., 
fig.2). Here the crabs aresorted out from the mass of seaweed, toad- 
fish, oyster shells, etc., which is brought up by the scrape. The hard 
crabs are put into barrels and the soft crabs and peelers kept in 
boxes of various sorts while being brought ashore. 
Although all sorts of crabs are taken with the scrape, the bulk of 
the catch so taken consists of peelers, the reason being that scraping 
is practiced only in the Crisfield region where the immature crabs 
predominate in numbers, and is carried on in fairly deep water. 
Crabs are apt to move inshore immediately before shedding, conse- 
quently soft crabs are more numerous in the shallower waters. 
The crabber usually reaches the crabbing grounds at 3 or 4 o’clock 
in the morning and returns with his catch about 11 or 12 o’clock. 
Thus the crabs reach the dealer before the heat of the day, which is 
injurious to crabs confined in the live boxes. 
Trot-LinE.—This apparatus is used at all seasons when the water 
is warm enough for the crab to move sufficiently to seize the bait. 
It is especially adapted to the catching of hard crabs, since a soft 
crab can not seize the bait and a peeler does not bite readily, as a 
crab does not eat much for a few days before it sheds. 
The trot-line (PI. II, fig. 1) consists of a line varying in diameter from 
three-sixteenths to three-eighths inch, and in length from 800 to 2,000 
or more feet. A weight is secured to each end to hold the line in 
place while on the bottom, and a buoy to mark the spot is attached 
near the weight by ashort drop line. In some cases the baits are sus- 
pended to the line by snoods 6 or 8 inches in length (Pl. II, fig.1). This 
is the usual practice where no power or sail boat is used, the lines 
being ‘“‘run”’ by hand—that is, the boat (PI. II, fig. 2) is pulled along the 
line by hand. In other cases, the baits are secured in bights in the 
main line. This is done when the line is run by a power or sailboat. 
In this case the line passes over a spool or an oarlock set on an arm 
projecting about 1 foot from the side of the boat. As the boat is 
moved along, either by hand or by the engine or sails, the line is 
lifted and the crabber catches the crabs in a short-handled dip net, 
as they are brought to the surface while clinging to the bait. At 
Phoebus, Va., a patent net is used by some crabbers. This is at- 
tached to the side of the boat by an arm and secures the crabs as the 
line passes through it. When not in use the arm may’ we raised and 
the net thus suspended over the boat. 
