When the dredges are hauled in they are emptied on what is known as a culling board. This board runs the width of the boat, projecting slightly on both sides. It is 3 feet wide, and has a guide 3 inches high along each side, leaving the ends open. The scallops are then separated from the rubbish, such as seaweed, shells, mud, etc., while the refuse and seed scallops are thrown overboard by merely pushing them off the end of the board. Each catch is culled out while the dredges are being pulled along on the back "drift," and the board is again clear for the next catch. The culled scallops are first put in buckets and later transferred either to bushel bags or dumped into the cockpit of the boat.
Two men are usually required to tend from 6 to 8 dredges in a large cat boat, but often one man alone does all the work. This seems to be confined to localities, as at Nantucket nearly all the cat boats have two men. At Edgartown the reverse is true, one man to the boat, though in power dredging two men are always used.
Several styles of dredges are used in scalloping, as each locality has its own special kind, which is best adapted to the scalloping bottom of that region. Four different styles are used in Massachusetts, two of which permit a subdivision, making in all six different forms. Each of these dredges is said by the scallopers using them to be the best; but for all-round work the "scraper" seems the most popular.
(1) The Chatham or Box Dredge.—As this dredge was first used in Chatham, the name of the town was given to it, to distinguish it from the other styles. At the present time its use is confined to Chatham and the neighboring towns of the Cape. With the exception of a very few used at Nantucket, it is not found elsewhere in Massachusetts.
The style of the box dredge is peculiar, consisting of a rectangular framework, 27 by 12 inches, of flat iron 1 by ¼ inches, with an oval-shaped iron bar extending back as a support for the netting bag, which is attached to the rectangular frame. To the side of the rectangular frame is attached a heavy iron chain about 4 feet long, to which is fastened the drag rope.
(2) The Scraper.—As can be seen by the illustration, this style of dredge consists of a rigid iron frame of triangular shape, which has a curve of nearly 90° at the base, to form the bowl of the dredge. Above, a raised cross bar connects the two arms, while at the bottom of the dredge a strip of iron 2 inches wide extends from arm to arm. This strip acts as a scraping blade, and is set at an angle so as to dig into the bottom. The top of the net is fastened to the raised cross bar and the lower part to the blade.
The usual dimensions of the dredge are: arms, 2½ feet; upper cross bar, 2 feet; blade, 2½ feet. The net varies in size, usually holding about a bushel of scallops, and running from 2 to 3 feet in length. Additional weights can be put on the cross bar when the scalloper desires the dredge to scrape deeper. A wooden bar, 2 feet long, buoys the net.
Two styles of this dredge are in use. At Nantucket the whole net is made of twine, while at Edgartown and in Buzzards Bay the lower part of the net is formed of a netting of iron rings, the upper half of the net being twine. The iron rings are supposed to stand the wear better than the twine netting. This difference seems to be merely a matter of local choice. The "scraper" is perhaps the dredge most generally used, as, no matter what style is in use, a scalloper generally has a few "scrapers" among his dredges.
(3) The "Slider."—The principle of the "slider" is the reverse of the "scraper," as the blade is set either level or with an upward incline, so the dredge can slide over the bottom. This dredge is used on rough bottom and in places where there is little eel-grass. In some dredges the blade is rigid, but in the majority the blade hangs loose.