CRUSTACEA. 



Implements employed in Crab Fishing. 



a. Crab Pot. 



b. Lobster Pot. 



c. Well Box. 



sides their boat, they require a capital of about ten pounds ; one half for creels, cruives, or crab pots, the 

 other half for lines. These Crab-pots are made of dry osier, and resemble basket>work. They are framed 

 on the principle of the wire mouse-trap, the aperture being at the top, instead of the side. Within the 

 pot the bait, consisting of thornback, or skait, is fixed at the bottom, and the pot is then dropped in some 

 favorable location, three stones being fastened inside of weight enough to sink it. Sometimes the pots are 

 sunk twenty fathoms deep, under certain conditions of weather and ground. In fine weather, they are 

 dropped in from three to five fathoms, but Crabs are found chiefly where the bottom is rocky. 



A line is fastened to the pot, and at the upper end of the line is fixed a cork, which floats on the surface. 

 Thus the place is known where the pot is sunk, and usually from forty to fifty pots are set at the same 

 time. The bait being suspended about the middle of the pot, can readily be seen by the Crabs, which, 

 entering the aperture, find, like a mouse in a wire-trap, that escape is impossible. Lobsters, Prawns, and 

 Shrimps are often found captured with the Crabs. 



After setting all their pots, the fishermen have still some time left to go further seaward for other fish, 

 before it is necessary to visit them. Crab fishing, therefore, while a valuable addition to their means of 

 gaining a subsistence, does not preclude their pursuit of other fish at the same season. 



The demand for this fish is usually good and in many of the large coast towns is fully equal to the sup- 

 ply. After a few hours' absence, the fishermen visit their creels and take out their contents. There may, 

 perhaps, be a dozen different owners of boats thus engaged, and it is, therefore, necessary to employ some 

 means, by which they may secure the fruits of their own labor, without the risk of dispute. This they 

 effect by putting on their respective floats some distinguishing mark. 



Crabs are brought to market both raw and boiled. If the market be distant, they are placed in a well 

 box, attached to the outside of the fishing vessel and thus are brought to Billingsgate even from far off 

 Norway. May, June and July are the months in which it is generally out of season, though, even then Crabs 

 may be procured, which are perfectly fit for the table. Before boiling, a good Crab is known by the rough- 

 ness of the shell, especially that of the claws. After boiling, the mode of ascertaining its goodness is by 

 grasping the claws firmly and shaking the body, which, if not in perfection, will rattle, or sound as if water 

 were within. The usual length of boiling is from one fourth of an hour to two hours, either in sea water, or 

 water saturated with salt. 



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