THE OYSTER FISHERY OF CONNECTICUT. 
463 
$213,995 were paid to 693 employes. Eeference may be made here to the fact that 
the earniugs of these men are increased considerably by the sale of oysters taken 
on the natural beds. Stevenson estimates their average annual earnings at about 
$385. This average is low because some of the men do not engage exclusively in the 
oyster industry, but devote a portion of their time to fishing, farming, or some other 
occupation. It is claimed that a man without capital can easily earn $500 per year if 
he is eflicient and works all the time. This is much more than could be earned 
fifteen years ago and much in excess of wages generally received by oystermen else- 
where; for instance, on the Chesapeake. Some fishermen are small jiroprietors and 
derive an additional income from their grounds as well as by working on public beds. 
Operatives on shore other than “openers” receive from $10 to $12 per week, 
without board. At New Haven openers are paid 3 and 3| cents per quart of meats. 
In 1889 the 461 openers at that city were paid $70,106, an average for the season of 
about $175. About three-fourths of the oyster-oi)eners are women, many of whom 
work somewhat irregularly a part of the year. 
The following statements of prominent oystermen regarding the wages of shore 
operatives will be of interest. Messrs. S. & B. Ohipmau say : 
Oyster-sliuckers earn from $5 to |7 a week. A few earn as high as |12 a week. — Report of Con- 
necticut Bureau of Labor Statistics, p. 130. 
The openers at City Point receive 17^ cents for a S-quart pail of opened oysters. The measure 
is beer, and includes the liquor. • The cost of opening a gallon of solid oysters, wine measure, is 20 cents 
at the above rate to the openers, about 3 cents a gallon being allowed for help and expenses incidental 
to washing and packing. Oyster-openers average about f2 a day working 8 or 9 hours, but the amount 
of work varies from day to day. Indeed, the number of quarts opened depends much on the ability of 
the opener, varying from 40 to 120. — Ih., p. 133. 
The 86 men employed at New Haven market houses as “helpers ” earn a yearly 
average of $275 for the season, November to May, and for work at odd times between 
seasons. 
HI.— VESSELS AND BOATS. 
3. Influence of improved vessels . — Next to the enactment of favorable laws, nothing, 
perhaps, has exercised so much influence on the development of oyster farming in 
Connecticut as the recent improvement in the vessels engaged in this industry. 
4. Historical . — In early times small rowboats were practically the only craft em- 
ployed in oystering in this region. These were chiefly, if not wholly, dugout canoes, 
of which examples are still to be found along the Connecticut shores, though now 
seldom used. As late as 1880 Ingersoll found fifteen or twenty dugout canoes at New 
Haven and vicinity employed in taking seed and marketable oysters. The canoes 
were generally large, and would carry about 40 bushels of oysters, Stevenson says 
a few of them “ may still be seen upon the banks of the Quiuepiac, prized more as 
mementoes of the past than for their present usefulness.” In many places the dug- 
outs were superseded by a flat-bottomed, square-ended, scow-like skiff, worth about 
$10 ; but at New Haven and vicinity the sharpie came into general favor some years 
ago, and was more extensively used in oystering than any other type of boat. 
5. The sharpie . — The fishermen of Connecticut are credited with originating this 
craft, which, during the era when boats were chiefly used in the oyster industry, was 
admirably adapted to the business. Having a sharp bow and a broad, flat bottom, 
