Picture taken before 1910
Oyster Dredge
Picture taken before 1910
| The oyster dredge, "Lottie" pulled out at the beach for
repair near where the Liquor Store is located . That's a "culling
board" for "culling" oysters on port side of the boat.
A culling board was used by the baymen for sorting the trash from the
oysters that come up in his tongs. He swung the tongs up and dumped
the whole mass on to the culling board. At times there was as much
junk as there were oysters. Sometimes there was someone doing the
culling while the bayman continued to tong. The trash was removed and
the oysters were, at times sorted to size, bagged and stored in the proper
spot by the culler. If there is no culler the bayman had to stop
his tonging to do this chore. Many sons performed this chore
including mine.
It is illegal to use power today dredging! They did dredge using sail power. The oysters were generally shucked in a shucking house. This should remind everyone that Somers Point was a bay town and most
people made their living from the bay. |