820 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES 



spoonful of oil, it is said, will produce a smooth surface for as long a time as a small boat cares 

 to work in one spot. Shark oil is considered the best for this purpose, though no reason for it is 

 given. In summer many Key West people kill the nurse-shark and try out the liver for this oil, 

 which sells at f 1 a gallon. During the day the dingies work steadily along the reefs, picking up 

 sponges here and there, until dinner-time or night arrives, when they return to the vessel. When 

 on the sponging- grounds the men breakfast at daylight, and soon after are in their boats, pre- 

 pared for work. At diuuer-time 12 o'clock the cook blows a horn to recall them, and after a 

 short rest the work continues until sunset. Should a boat wish- to regain its vessel at any other 

 time, in order to leave sponges, an oar is hoisted blade up as a signal, whereupon the cook sails 

 the vessel to that vicinity. As soon as the sponges are brought on board, they are spread care- 

 fully over the deck of the vessel in their natural upright position, so as to allow the slimy 

 matter, called "gurry" by the spongers, to run off easily. During the first stages of decomposi- 

 tion they smell strongly of ammonia, and are extremely noxious to most persons unaccustomed to 

 the odor. Later the ammonia scent disappears, leaving a stronger one very similar to that of 

 decaying seaweeds. The fishermen say that after having endured this stench for a few days they 

 do not notice it at all. 



Some of the larger of the sponging-fleet remain at anchor on the "grounds" through the 

 night, but the majority run inshore, a distance of 10 or 15 miles. 



It is the general custom among them to go to the place for curing their catch every Friday 

 night, carrying with them the results of a week's work. Each vessel has one or more crawls 

 (an inclosure of stakes 8 or 10 feet square, situated in water 2 or 3 feet deep) at the rendezvous. 

 A small island, called Rock Island, located a short distance southeast of Saint Mark's River, and 

 near the spongiug-grouuds, is the principal place for these crawls and is visited by both Key West 

 and Apalachicola vessels. The latter have a number of crawls near the Saint Mark's light-house, 

 and the former have them scattered all along the coast from Rock Island to the Anclote Keys. 

 Many of the reef fleet have their crawls at Key West and cure the sponges at home. 



The Saturdays are passed in depositing the past week's catch, and cleansing the deposit of 

 the week before. Sponges as kept on deck will generally die and lose the greater part of their 

 gelatinous matter in one or two days; therefore, when thrown into the crawls, the chief part of 

 the curing to be done is the removal of the outside skin or covering. In cold weather they live 

 much longer than when it is warm, and it is sometimes difficult to cure them properly in winter. 

 Vessels at Rock Island have sometimes been unable to cure their catch there and have brought 

 them all home to die and then be cured. 



In summer, and when they are dead at the time they are placed in the crawl, the week's 

 soaking that they undergo softens all the remaining slime and skin they contain, and a little 

 squeezing and beating with a short, heavy stick, called a "bruiser," suffices to cleanse them per- 

 fectly. They are squeezed as dry as possible and thrown into a dingy, to be strung on rope-yarus 

 C feet long, in the form of bunches, which are first strung up to allow the sponges to bleach 

 and dry, and afterwards stowed in the hold. As soon as dry they are in condition to sell to the 

 wholesale merchants of Key West and Apalachicola. 



When vessels have crawls in company and employ a watchman, the cured sponges are left 

 ashore until they are ready to start home, otherwise they are carried in the hold. Until within a 

 year or two a watchman for the crawls was not considered necessary, but so much thieving was 

 done that the spongers were finally obliged to resort to this method of protection. Each vessel 

 pays her share towards the watchman's expenses and wages. 



Sponging-vessels spend from one to two months on a trip, the state of the weather and the 



