THE FISHERIES OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 509 



THE SHRIMP FISHERY. Another fishery of peculiar importance at Charleston is that for shrimp 

 and prawn. The fishing had not fairly begun at the time of our visit to Charleston, and we are 

 indebted to Messrs. C. C. Leslie, J. S. Terry, and others for the information concerning it. Shrimp 

 are taken in any of the rivers and creeks- from the 1st of April till the middle of November. In 

 April they seem to occur only in particular localities, and six seines, with crews of six men each, 

 are employed in their capture during the two or three hours of low water at night, the lucky boats 

 often securing 10 to 20 bushels, while the less fortunate ones return with only 4 or 5. Early in 

 May, when the shrimp become more plenty, the seines are laid aside, and their owners, with many 

 others, provide themselves with cast nets and engage regularly in the business. The fishing soon 

 reaches its height, when it is said that one hundred and twenty men and boys, with sixty boats, 

 are regularly employed in the capture of the species. During June and July the daily catch often 

 exceeds 100 plates, of about 1 quart each, to the boat, aiid the average for the season is not less 

 than 60 to 75 plates per day.- 



All of the shrimp taken during the first of the season find a ready sale at about 50 cents a 

 plate to the hook-and-line fishermen of the city, who use them as bait in the shore fisheries. During 

 seasons of scarcity they sometimes sell as high as 2 cents each, or nearly $1 per plate. The fisher- 

 men prefer shrimp to any other bait, and think them almost indispensable to their success. Each 

 man buys from 1 to 2 plates daily, according to the fishing that he expects. As they become more 

 plenty the price declines to 25, then to 15, and later to 10 cents; the average retail market price 

 is 15 cents, and from the boats 8 to 10 cents. 



In addition to the men catching shrimp, a large number are engaged in vending them through 

 the streets of the city. Taking these into account, the shrimp fisheries of Charleston, according to 

 the most reliable estimates, give employment to two hundred people during seven months of the 

 year; and the shrimp taken have a value of fully $35,000 at first hands, and their retail value is 

 nearly $60,000. Of the entire catch, all but a few hundred bushels are used in the city. 



AN UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO ESTABLISH A MENHADEN FISHEKY AT CHARLESTON. We 



are informed by Capt. Samuel Corker and others that menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) are often 

 very abundant in the Charleston waters. About the 1st of April these fish make their appearance 

 in large schools a lew miles from the shore, and continue to increase in numbers for several weeks. 

 Later they gradually disappear, and in midsummer are much less plenty. They are again abundant 

 in the fall, at which time they enter the numerous bays and tide-creeks along the shore, where they 

 are said to remain till late in December. 



Captain Corker, who is one of the most enterprising colored fishermen of the South, was for 

 several years employed in the menhaden fisheries of Long Island Sound, where he became thor- 

 oughly acquainted with the methods of fishing and the work in the factory. Returning to Charles- 

 ton in 1876, he decided to engage in the menhaden fisheries after the manner of the Northern fish- 

 ermen. Accordingly he secured the necessary outfit, including schooner, purse-seines, kettles, 

 and presses, and when all was in readiness started for the fishing grounds. He soon had a school 

 of about 200 barrels of fish inclosed in his seine, but before ho could dip them out the sharks gath- 

 ered for the feast, biting and tearing the netting in their efforts to get at the menhaden, until 

 nothing remained but the cork and lead-lines. The sharks gained the day, for, taking up the rem- 

 nant of his seine, Captain Corker returned to the shore and gave up the business. This attempt 

 is noteworthy as being the most southern point where the purse-seine has been used, and indeed 

 the only point south of Wilmington, N. C., where an attempt has been made to catch the menhaden 

 for their oil. 



THE RETAIL FISH TRADE OF CHARLESTON. Prior to the war there was but one firm in 



