358 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
Vessels.—The vessels employed are schooners, sloops, scows, floats, 
and a few small rowboats. 
The floats are large barges with the bottom planks sufficiently sepa- 
rated to admit the water freely. They are used as temporary recepta- 
cles for oysters that have been culled and cleaned, and to keep them fresh 
while awaiting transfer to market. They are kept-afloat by “air boxes,” 
i. e., air-tight compartments along the sides and ends, and, in extra 
large floats, lengthwise through the middle. The bottom is made of 
3-inch square timbers separated by half-inch spaces. The float thus 
constructed has a free circulation of water among the oysters stored in 
it, and will hold great quantities of them in a fresh and healthy condi- 
tion. Floats are constructed in varying sizes adapted to the require- 
ments of each station, the large double floats with central air box being 
usually 40 feet long by 20 wide. The single compartment floats are 
about half this size. 
The scows are used in tonging up oysters and for sorting and other- 
wise handling them. They are shallow and flat-bottomed, with sides 
very slightly tapering from the middle to the square ends. The flush 
decks slope a little toward the low rail strip at the sides. Each end is 
fitted with a large iron ring, through which the heavy propelling poles 
are passed and driven by hand into the mud to steady it in tonging. 
In this operation the scow is gradually moved broadside across the 
oyster bed, permitting a thorough taking-up of all oysters in its course, 
which is previously laid out by occasional light poles set up on the bed 
at low tide. When loaded, the scow is pushed alongside the float and 
moored to it until its oysters are culled. Scows are made in different 
sizes, with decks averaging 8 feet by 24 feet. 
‘The sloops or “plungers” in use are built upon several models, some 
of them with flush decks and a large central cockpit divided by a center- 
board. <A larger size is a keel boat with low deckhouse. Both forms 
are commonly cat-rigged. They are employed for general transporta- 
tion between the oyster stations and to carry oysters to market. 
A good-sized schooner of unusually light draft has been built by the 
Morgan Oyster Company for oyster work in the bay and has been found 
very efficient. 
When the tide goes out and all these craft are left high and dry upon 
the tide lands, the workmen, putting on leather-soled rubber boots for 
wading in the mud, are employed in leveling or otherwise improving 
the surface for oyster bedding. 
Eimployés.—Usually about 100 men are employed upon the oyster 
beds of San Francisco Bay, this number being considerably increased 
at certain times. They are recruited from the ranks of the sea-going 
class, nearly always numerous about the wharves of San Francisco, 
and are constantly changing, none of them developing into regular 
oystermen. About 90 per cent of them are of Scandinavian origin. 
