PRESERVATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS FOR FOOD. 
351 
survive a trij) lasting three or four days. Some dealers have tried separating the 
lobsters from the ice, using for this purpose a long, narrow box, divided transversely 
into three compartments, of which the middle is much the largest, and in this the 
lobsters are placed, while the ice is put in the two smaller compartments; but lobsters 
do better when in contact with the ice, the moisture appearing to be necessary for 
their preservation. 
The United States Fish Commission has successfully carried live lobsters in its 
transportation cars for distances upward of 3,000 miles. The method pursued is 
thus described on pp. 243-244 of the report for 4897 : 
Large, iiiatnre lobsters, on long trips, are packed in seaweed in wooden trays about (i inches high 
and (jf a size convenient for handling. Strips of wood attached to the bottom of trays have open 
spaces between them to allow air circulation. About 2 inches of seaweed are spread on the bottom 
of the tray and the lobsters placed on it with their claws toward th'e outer ends, so that they can not 
injure each other, and the trays are then filled with seaweed. They are packed in the refrigerator 
compartments, and the temperature of the air is kept, if ])ossible, at from 40^ to 48^^ F. A supply of 
salt water, filtered through cotton, is taken along, and the lobsters are sprinkled with it three or four 
times a day, and they are also daily overhauled and repacked. If the desired temperature is main- 
tained, 50 to 60 per cent can be carried for live or six days. 
Attempts have been made to ship live lobsters in sea water by having a water tank 
with a series of shelves either communicating or separate, with supjily and discharge 
pipes connecting with the shelves, so that the lobsters on each shelf maybe kept sup- 
plied with fresh sea tvater. This apparatus was intended especially for trausiiortiug 
lobsters on shipboard to England, but it has not been used to any great extent. 
The following article from the Canadian Gazette, of London, contains an account 
of the experiments with it: 
The Canadian lobster has long been well known and appreciated in England, but only in its pre- 
served state, packed in the tins familiar to all housekeepers. A successful attemfit has just been made 
to import live lobsters from Canada, where they are abundant and cheap, to England, where they are 
so dear as to lender them a positive luxury. Many attempts have been made at different times to laud 
live Canadian lolisters in England, but none id' them had proved successful, owing to various causes 
too numerous to explain here. The idea was, however, too good, too tempting, to be definitely aban- 
doned, and experiments were constantly being made, though with but little success. Finally Messrs. 
Arthur and Harold McGray instituted careful inquiries in the principal lobster districts, the result of 
which led them to the conclusion that the methods adopted by previous shippers had been defective, 
owing to their ignorance of the habits and requirements of the lobster. These shippers had simply 
placed the fish in large tubs, renewing the salt water at frequent intervals. This was clearly insuffi- 
cient, for the lobsters invariably died within 12 or 15 hours. Having concluded their inquiries and 
carefully tabulated the information they had obtained, Messrs. McGray commenced to experiment 
with a system entirely different, devised by themselves. This improved apparatus, which appears 
simple in itself, is the outcome of patient observation and study of the habits of the lobster at various 
points along the coast. It enables the crustaceans to continue while in transport an almost identical 
mode of life to that led by them at the bottom of the sea. This system constituted the inventor's 
secret, which we cannot of course divulge at the present moment. They commenced with ton lobsters, 
which they placed in their improved receptacle and contrived to keep them alive for 48 hours. This 
was a decided imjirovement on the results previously obtained by other merchants. Thus encouraged, 
they continued their experiments with successive series of lobsters. In the course of the summer of 
1891 they succeeded in keeping them alive 5, 8, 11, 13, and ultimately 18 days. These experiments, 
diversified by innumerable incidents, trials, failures, and partial successes, were conducted on board 
a light-ship stationed oh Barrington, with water always taken from the bay and naturally of about 
the same temperature. An important point was thus established — lobsters could be kept alive for 18 
days on lioard a stationary ship. 
