Show ON AN OYSTER BOAT trim little vessels that are seen on chesapeake bay how the bivalves are from their salt water bcd toola and methods of work of the oyster men the catch these vessels are usually manned by four or five men and a cook A good supply of food is always taken on board before leaving port but should this run short there are plenty of the choicest oysters to be had for the opening in chesapeake bay says the washington post the oyster is indigenous and there and in its tributaries tributa ries are where the beds arc located to these the sea fanner or goes loads up his boat with seed and sailing to his grounds throws off his cargo of young oysters infant oysters so treated are called layovers lay overs standing on the deck of each oyster boat is a tall machine consisting of two iron uprights a reel mounted between them at alie end of which is a crank and a system of cogs and ratchets this is the winder coiled around the winder is an iron chain to which is attached the dredge the dredge is made afan iron rod and a bag shaped web of interwoven iron rings and a row of teeth fastened to the tooth bar is near alie lower end at the side of the boat are long iron rollers over which the clinin and dredge rolls dredge catches and chocks such is alie tackle used for alie planting transplanting and catching of the oyster athe spawn of the oyster is deposited during alie summer and adheres to some object in alie water an old shoe a bottle a lost anchor or alie castoff cast off shell of a crab is as good as anything for alie young oyster to cling to until he has the nerve to let go and paddle his own canoe in about two weeks it is apparent to the eye that these objects have become covered with enterprising young oysters A single oyster shell will hold hundreds of them in a year they are as large as a nickel and in three years aliey will be marketable A great many oysterman oystermen oy raise their own seed it is done by using the oyster shells which have been opened at the restaurants and bringing them to their beds where they are thrown ohp this is done usually between july and august the spawn adhering to these shells coon forms thrifty young oysters when inshore oysters are taken into deep water it is called transplanting after they have been about a month in deep water they are gathered for the market sometimes strong winds so cover these transplanted oysters with sand and mud that the dredgers cannot reach them some oysters are marketable in a year while others require from two to five years when the oyster boat arrives at the grounds the anchor is cast and the dredge thrown overboard A rope is always attached to alie dredge to prevent its loss in case its chain breaks then the anchor is shipped sail set and the boat sails over the grounds dragging the dredge behind when she is brought to the cranks turn and the rattling chain brings slowly to the surface the dredge and its catch it is aboard over the roller and its contents consisting of crabs crawfish young sharks fish seaweed and oysters are dumped on the deck the fish are thrown back in the water but if borers conks or starfish are found they are killed for they destroy the oyster the dredge is dumped overboard again and the boat sails back over the same ground and so sails from daylight until before the dredge was invented a wide rake with curved teeth and a long handle was let down into the beds and by hand the oysters were hauled this was called tonguing there s as wide difference between a tonguing ton gning iron and a dredge as there is between a hand scythe and a two horse reaper from of oysters on the deck the best are separated from the plants oysters and trash for this purpose the culler uses as slender hammer called a culling iron that is round at one end and flat at the other with aliis he the oysters towards him and knocks alie clusters of oysters apart and sorts them into piles called cullings selects and extras the plants un der grown and empty shells are thrown back as they help keep the ground above the mad the night is always welcome to the oysterman for liis work is hard though accompanied by much novelty the coming up of the dredge is always attractive for its gatherings are never alike |