8

barrow and all." Likely story! I doubt

that very much. The fish were weighed

and taken into the factory and the men did , the boiling. They were all piled on those racks you know when they were cooked. I think it was an open boiler. One fireman kept the boiler going and someone else took 53 them out. -»

George Leard notes that most tanks at this time held more than the 20~gallon earlier tanks. Such tanks were made by William

Mallet on Jack Louie out of galvinized iron. 54 The firemen's jobs would be hot and tedious. The cooked lobsters then went to the man who was "breaking off." He "broke the claws and bodies apart." 55

From there the bodies went to the table where one person (usually a man) pulled tails which removed the tail from the body. The tails

g were placed in‘a basket for the woman who split tails. The. legs

and claws went to the cleavers. One person noted that "Cass Blaisdell.

was the best cracker (or cleaver) that ever entered a factory." 56

Another lady said about his speed:

Oh, was he ever! You wouldn't want

to get your fingers in his way now...

he was really fast. Cleaved where

the corner of the claw was. A claw would be cracked twice and the arm

would be cracked to let the meat out 7 easily. It was quite a performance. 5

Women were usually the ones who split tails. One person would take the meat out of the shell while the other person did what is described below: I

- Splitting tails. That was my job. I did- The only job I liked in the factory. As long as I didn't have to go near shells I was O.K. As far as being on arm picker I was no good. I couldn't pick enough arms to feed myself. That was one job I couldn't or .