THE OYSTER INDUSTRY OF MARYLAND. 
243 
ters by tearing them open or crushing them, but the number thus destroyed is probably 
not large on those beds operated on year after year. The oyster-culturists of New 
York and Connecticut find it to their advantage to use dredges many times the weight 
of those employed in Maryland. The use of these implements merely to stir up the 
oyster beds j ust prior to the spawning season, and thus to some extent clean the shells 
on the bed for the ‘ attachment of spat, is of much value. But after the spawning 
season the use of heavy implements is certainly injurious until the shells of the young- 
oysters have acquired sufficient strength to resist being crushed by their action. 
Men on dredging vessels . — The crew of a dredging vessel usually consists of the 
captain, mate, cook, and from two to nine common hands, according to the size of 
the craft. The captains are all citizens of the State, and the greater number of them 
are married and have homes in Baltimore or “down the bay.” They are usually 
possessed of a little means and have a social standing in their local communities. 
Many of those residing in the counties have farms, to which their attention is devoted 
when not afloat. Others during the close season engage in the transportation of 
wood, farm produce, etc. Away from the Chesapeake the Maryland dredging captains 
are regarded as a reckless and lawless class of men. This does these men a great 
injustice; they are as peacefully disposed as the generality of mankind, engaged in a 
lawful and useful occupation, and obey the statutes as fully as the oystermen of any 
other State. But it is not surprising that out of 800 dredging captains there should 
be a few reckless and unprincipled persons, for this is generally the case in every other 
vocation. The mate or chief assistant is generally a man younger than the captain, 
from the same locality, and usually expects within a few years to be in full command 
of an oyster vessel. 
As to the remaining members of the crew, some small vessels from the counties 
obtain men from the localities in which the vessels are owned or in which the captains 
live; but the great majority of vessels employ an entirely different class of men, who 
are in no sense baymen and to whom the dredging of oysters is frequently an episode 
rather than a pursuit. They have no peculiar knowledge oftlie business, being required 
merely to turn the winders that lift the dredges and to cull the oysters after they are 
brought on deck. So great discredit has been brought upon this branch of labor that 
none but the most destitute persons can be induced to do the work, and in order to man 
some of the vessels at times it is necessary to resort to means that strongly resemble 
impressment and violence. Very few of these men have homes ; they come to Maryland 
at the opening of the dredging season from all parts of the country, without money and 
almost without clothes, being driven to the city to seek work by reason of the stress of 
weather. They usually hire out by the trip, which may last from ten to forty days, at a 
rate varying from $8 to $18 and provisions. 
The captain of the vessel does not bargain with the men and frequently does not 
know of whom his crew consists until he is ready to proceed on the trip. There are 
persons in Baltimore who make a business of furnishing men for the vessels. They 
have small rooms in which are quartered the men seeking the work or whom they 
may have induced to accept of it. When these labor brokers receive an order to fur- 
nish a vessel with a certain number of men, they see that the men are properly on 
board, and for this service collect $2 for each man obtained, this fee being paid by the 
captain and afterwards deducted from the compensation of the laborer. The laborers 
are advanced a small sum of money, usually about one-fourth of the total wages, for 
