THE CKAB INDUSTRY OF MARYLAND. 427 



Boats. — The boat used by the crabber must necessarily be light, for 

 when hauling in the line hand over hand the boat is pulled along at 

 the same time. The boats vary in length from 12 to 24 feet. At 

 Cambridge and Crisfield a lighter and cheaper boat is used, while at 

 Oxford and other localities there is a growing tendency to build boats 

 suitable for both crabbing and oyster-tonging. These average 25 feet 

 in length, 2 feet deep, and from 5 to 6 feet wide, and have a dead-rise 

 bottom. Boats of this character cost from $40 to $50, and are desig- 

 nated skiffs and batteaus. 



Douhlcrs. — Ver}^ often a male and female crab when mating are taken 

 together on a trot line, this usually occurring when the female is 

 entering the shedding stage. The pair are called "doublers," or 

 "channeler and his wife." In most localities where hard crabs are 

 taken there are one or more firms handling soft crabs — that is, those 

 taken on trot lines as "doublers." At some places there is no sale for 

 the female thus taken, and she is returned to the water, while in other 

 localities she is sold along with the hard crabs at the same price. The 

 proportion of "doublers" taken varies in different localities from lin 

 100 crabs to 1 in 10, and the}^ are generally taken on grassy bottoms. 

 A "channeler," or any large male hard crab, is called a "Jimmy" or 

 "Jim crab." 



Kiilse of crahs. — The size of a market crab varies with the season and 

 also with the locality. Early in the season 500 will fill a sugar barrel, 

 while later from 200 to 300 is sufficient. The average weight of a 

 single crab is about one-third of a pound. Two were taken near Cris- 

 field early in 1902 weighing 1 pound each. The smallest crabs that 

 are ever taken in that locality are about the size of a man's fing-er-nail. 

 The supposition that crabs spawn in the ocean near Cape Charles would 

 account for the fact that no smaller ones are taken. 



Floats. — Floats are not used among hard crabbers except in the case 

 of dealers and those shipping their own catch. In localities where 

 crab meat is picked a,nd utilized, floats are used only by dealers hand- 

 ling peelers or the females taken with the "channelers" while mating. 

 The floats are similar to those used in the soft-crab trade, though wire 

 is sometimes substituted for laths in their construction. It is claimed 

 that the wire does not catch filth from the water so quickly as the 

 lath floats, and it is more easily brushed off. At Mount Vernon every 

 crabber has two floats, so that he may place a day's catch in one and 

 allow it to remain until time for shipment, and reserve the other float 

 for the next day's catch. It is claimed that a day's captivity lessens 

 the likelihood of the crabs attacking and maiming each other. 



Disposition of catch and price. — The crabs are disposed of in difl'er- 

 ent ways. Probably the largest proportion is sold to factories for the 

 extraction of the meat. The remainder is either shipped alive by the 

 crabbers or sold to dealers, who also ship it in a live state. In some 



