646 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



extensive business in shipping crabs from the Gulf coast to interior towns of the Southern States 

 will be built up, and the abundance of material for such a trade appears to favor success. 



On the Louisiana coast about one hundred men are regularly engaged in taking hard crabs, and 

 about as many more for soft crabs in their season. The average weekly catch of soft crabs is about 

 300 dozens, and of hard crabs about 250 baskets. More could be taken if there was a demand for 

 them. At Galveston about twelve men are engaged regularly in crabbing, and others occasionally. 



Crabs as well as shrimps are extensively used as bait on the Gulf coast, and are said to 

 answer for nearly all kinds of hook and line fishing. Soft crabs and young hard crabs are pre- 

 ferred. Among the species of fish for which they are employed are the redfish and sea trout. 



5. CRAB CANNING. 



CANNERIES AT HAMPTON, VA. The crab industry of Hampton, Va., is of considerable impor- 

 tance, and consists mainly in the canning of hard crabs (Callinectes hastatus) caught in the vicinity. 

 Two establishments there are now engaged in this enterprise McMenamin & Co., located on 

 Hampton Creek, and T. T. Bryce, located on the Normal School grounds. 



ORIGIN OF THE CANNING INDUSTRY. The canning of hard crabs originated in this vicinity 

 with Mr. James McMenamin a year or two prior to 1878. Aware of the financial success attained 

 by the lobster canneries of New England, he conceived the idea of utilizing the crabs living in such 

 immense numbers in the shallow waters about Norfolk, Va., where he was then located, and which 

 he was convinced could be prepared at much less cost than the lobsters. A correspondence with 

 lobster canners at the North as to their methods of preparation having proved unsatisfactory, 

 Mr. McMenamin began a series of experiments which lasted some time and resulted in his begin- 

 ning actual operations March 10, 1878. In the fall of that year a few of his goods were placed on 

 the market. Hampton, Va., offering superior advantages to Norfolk, Mr. McMenamin removed 

 to the former place in April, 1879, and began work on a larger scale. Crabs were found to be 

 more abundant and were more easily obtained about Hampton, and meeting with a ready sale, 

 Mr. McMenamin has been induced to increase his works still further during 1880. 



SEASON. The crab season begins in the vicinity of Hampton about the 1st of April, and con- 

 tinues through May. In June and July so large a quantity of the crabs are found with spawn, in 

 which condition they are not considered fit for canning, that but little is done in this line during 

 those months. The work begins again, however, in August, and is continued through September 

 and October, closing about the 1st of November. 



METHOD OP CANNING. When the large boats which go out to collect the crabs from the 

 fishermen arrive at the canneries, the dead crabs and spawners are rejected. The remainder are 

 loaded into cars of open slat-work, which are rolled on a tram-way to a wooden steamer, capable of 

 holding about two hundred and fifty dozens, in which they are placed. About GO pounds of steam 

 is then turned on, and the crabs are allowed to cook sufficiently and until they become red. After 

 the cooking the car is rolled out from the steamer, and the contents shoveled into baskets for the 

 "strippers," who remove the outer shells, viscera., and small claws. The crabs are then thoroughly 

 washed and passed to the "pickers," who consist entirely of women and children. The tables at 

 which they work are circular in shape, with a round central opening large enough to pass the refuse 

 from the crabs as it is thrown away. The table is otherwise divided into eight equal compart- 

 ments by partitions radiating from the central hole to the circumference. Each of the pickers 

 stands in front of a compartment of a table, there being, therefore, eight to each table. They work 

 rapidly, and the meats of the bodies, as they are removed, are more or less divided up and placed in 

 a pan. The claws are crushed with the handle of the knife employed in the work, and the meats 



