DEEP SEA DREDGING OFF STEWART ISLAND.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5397, 15 July 1878, Page 3

DEEP SEA DREDGING OFF STEWART ISLAND.

(Communicated.) Amongst the few innocent pleasures to which man in his fallen state is limited, that of eating oysters in 'the small hours beyond the 12 is not to be despised. . Perchance there may be some few notaries of this festive pastime who care to learn how their little friend is induced to leave his happy home, “ at the bottom of the deep blue sea,” to minister to their enjoyment. The way this is accomplished off Ste wart Island is simplicity itself. The oystercutter drifts broadside on over the home'of her prey with the tidal current, which in spring tides runs nearly four knots an hour, and from about S.E. to N.WV with the flood tide, and in the reverse direction with the ebb. This is very nearly the direction of the principal oyster bed, which lies some four miles to the eastward of Half-moon Bay, Stewart Island. The bed is rather more than three miles long by about - a mile and a quarter wide. The depth of water averages about 27 fathoms. The dredges used in abducting the bivalve are merely large skeleton hoes, some three feet wide, fitted with a bag composed partly of iron, with wire net, and partly of stout fishing line. " These are dragged over the bed ,by. warps some 40 fathoms long, which are made fast to the cutter amidships. The blade or “bit” of the dredge rakes up the oysters, which fall into the bag as it tows behind the dredge, with the iron part downwards. Its. mouth is kept open by the sides of the dredge and a., bar! just above the bit, and its bottom .in its proper., position by means of a round piece of light wood some two inches 'in’diameter and some three feet long, termed the buoy. "When the dredge bags are full, which is known by the feel of the warp, they are hove up by means of a winch amidships in the cutter, the warp travelling over a short davit on the rail. The contents of the-bags are sorted, or “ culched ” as it is termed, and when the cutter returns to her moorings, the day’s “take”-of saleable oysters is- spead in some convenient sheltered place on the rocks, where they will be covered with water at half-tide or less, and where they remain till a sufficient quantity is procured to take across to the Bluff for sale. The plant required consists of a cutter from fifteen to twenty 'tons, fitted With a winch, two dredges, about eighty fathoms of warp, a shovel, and a dozsn or so of flax kits. The cutter takes one-third of the take, .and the two men a third each, out of which they have to pay a boy for warp-bolder and cook, find their food and his, and pay 2s. 6d. each for a license. Sometimes throe men work a craft, and dispense with a boy, in which cane "there are four shares instead of three. The oysters used to meet with a ready sale at the Bluff at fid. per dozen wholesale ; but the excessive competition of late seasons has-altered this. The seasoq’hegififcwith April, and ends with October.: Stewart Island is well worth a glance on a fine'day in the beginning of the oyster season, and the metropolis par excellence , Half-moon Bay, especially so..' There may be parts, of the island which boast more natural advantages, but none which'blend natural and"artificial beauty so harmoniously. The bay is a mile and a-half long, by rather more than a mile wide.. It is sufficiently studded with picturesque islets and rocks to enhance its beauty .without impeding its navigation. There is.a tiny flat and a fine strip of sandy beach c*n-, tfally divided by a bold rocky bluff. At the head of the bay there are. the sites of a postoffice, store, schoolhouse, a very small shipbuilding yard, dwelling-houses, gardens, &c. The high, irregular, rocky sides are indented with numerous sandy coves, each with its small boat sheds, &c. Nearly every available point boasts its small clearing, with house, outbuildings and trim garden nestling in the primeval forest ; the darker tints of which afford a fine contrast to the emerald green of the clearing and the whiteness of the buildings. The ground all round the bay rolls upward in wooded billows,, displaying an almost; bewildering diversity of green in the brilliant sunshine. Some four or five miles off, in front of the bay, is a'group of fine islands, with that of Ruapuke.in the further distance; and further still can be seen the dim white peaks of the mainland trending southward. Numerous boats flit about the bay, and between it and the islands soine twenty cutters and boats are busy ashing and dredging, giving most vivid life to the scene. The sky ia almost cloudless and with the waters is of the purest blue, and the atmosphere is most clear and exhilarating. Verily there arc. worse places iu the world ■ for a person with nautical tastes to inhabit. Drcclging, too, rough and laborious as it sometimes is, has a charm of its own for some. Fancy waking just before daybreak on a fine autumn morning, lighting your pipe as you go on deck for a look'round* to see if any of your neighbors’ prafta are astir. As you begin to heave in tho slack of your chair* your mate comes on deck" and hoists the mainsail quietly. As soon as she is hove short the jib is run up and out to cant her head the right way ; with the first signs of the "desired cant tho anchor, is- broken but with a will, the staysail is run up, the dingy let go, and her mooring dropped overboard, .and with a - parting roll to rouse your sleeping neighbors, away you. steal with a westerly breeze, catting and securing your anchor as you go, feeling that for that morning at least you aro first away. By tho time the ropes are coiled down and tho chain stowed, if tho cook hps been smart, tho “billy” is boiling. A hurried wash and a quick breakfast is followed by a pleasant smoko at tho tiller, while your mato does his ablutiug and feeding, which gives you time to note iu tho fast-grow-ing sunlight the many cutters ami boats emerging from the shadows, and, like yourselves, hound for their daily work. Your mate comes on deck as you finish your smoke and contemplations, and you resign tho “stick” to him, that ho* too may have his pipe.

After a look at the dredges, tp make-sure they are all‘right, you place, them ready for casting; take the.-ends of the warps forward clear of all ligging, and make .them fast to the paid bits of the windlass ; see that they are coiled clear for heaving; give the winch a drop of oil, and take a look round to see the state of the tide and whore you are. If the breeze is pretty good, you will by this time bo pretty near the bed. As soon as you are “on your marks”—as it is teemed —which means as soon as you have brought certain rocks and points In Hue, nr opened or shut in certain islands, or houses, &c., the cutter is brought head to wind;—in head sail*, top the boom, slack down the peak, over with your after dredge ; give it warp smartly till you see by your mark on the warp that enough is out; catch a half-turn round the cleat inside the rail, so that a smart drive with your, foot will clear it and allow the cutter to ride head on, if the dredge hooks on a rock. All this is done with a rapidity which gives-you no time to wink. In casting, one man holds the dredge, with the bag stretched fair over the. back of it; the other stands by to give it warp at onco, as the least check to the dredge from the time it leaves the caster’s hands till it reaches'the bottom is liable to capsize it, when, in addition, to losing a dredge of oysters, tho fishing-line part of the net gets all cut to pieces with the oyster shells. The dredge is thrown face downwards, bit outwards, well clear of tlm cutter’s side, and nearly at right angles to it.. Tho second dredge is usually cast as soon as the warp of the first stretches fairly out ; and all prepare for work, —tho warp holder by putting on his oilskin pants, and the two 'men by peeling off all superfluous clothing. As soon as the dredge is full the word is “take to.” The warp-holder catches a turn round the winch-head, ouo raaii stands ready at the winch handle, the other clears tho warp from the cleat, catches hold before all, and while the warp-holder takes all the slack he can give him, heaves the taut, warp into the sheave of the davit, singing < ut to his mate to heave away, and jumping almost -at the same moment to assist him. The warpholder holds on and coils the warp down as it comes in. This heaving up a dredge of some fifty pounds, with a bag containing some two bushels and a half of oysters, stones, &c., at the end of thirty-five fathoms of heavy warp, is honest hard work, and will keep a man warm in the bitterest weather. As soon as the dredge is nearly chock up.to the sheave, one hand jumps to the side, and stooping ove? catches tho dredge by the ring to which tho warp is made fast, and with a vigorous lift rests a small chock on the under side of the dredge on the rail; his mate then catcher hold of the ring with him, aud with a lift and a jerk they-drag tho dredge in across tho rail-till they can lift the edge of the bit on the rail. The warpholder helps to steady the dredge, the two men lift the bottom of the bag straight up, and the contents, consisting of oysters, shells, crimson sponges, starfish, sea urchins, and all sorts of queer specimens of marine somi-Hfe, are tumbled on the deck just inside the rail. A hasty glance to 3eo that the net is all right, aud that ■ there are no lesions to bo. repaired, aud over she goes again. The take is cither culched or shovelled a(b as time serves, the next dredge hove up, and so on till the end of the bed is reached, a fabt.whichia notified by the marks aforesaid, when sail'is got on as rapidly as it was taken off, and away down the bed drift, finishing your culching as you go. In ordinary tides, with a favorable breeze, as many as three or even four drifts can be got out of a tide, and from six to eight dredges each trip, the contents of each dredge varying from six to twenty-five dozen saleable oysters ; a hundred and twenty oysters is good fair work on a drift. If you have had good luck with the obb, and the-wlnd is to the northward of west at all, you will probably be content with taking all you can out of the ebb, and up muslin for home. The dredges are put each side tho deck, with the bits just ‘over the rai), the ends of the warps are cast adrift, aud the warp coiled down nearly on the top of the dredges, aud the bags smoothed back over them, the oysters put away in the kits; the dock roughly clemed down ; chain overhauled and ranged, and if the breeze is light there is plenty’ of time for a feed and a smoke. As tho cutter nears her mooring one hand stands by to pick up or jump into the boat, another stands by to let go the anchor, which by this time is swinging clear from tho cathead. The cutter is either rounded to, chain being ’given her ai' she gathers stern way, or she gets a running moor, the anchor being let go while she still holds fair headway,, chain being given her rapidly till she has nearly her allowance. The oysters are then boated off to their temporary resting place, the sails are neatly stowed, the decks cleaned, pump tried, and everything made neat and ship-shape. All hands have probablya good wash and change, gear is overhauled, and if no repairs are needed there remains plenty of time forpotting.a few pigeons and' kakas, or visiting and blowing about the . day’s take. A good late dinner, a smoke, and a read, are followed by an early turn in, and so ends the day. This is the cream .of oystering ; but like the vest of life its not all beer and skittles. I could fill a small volume with the other side of the picture, which would probably weary my readers as much as the reality has often wearied me.