The boilers are rectangular wooden tanks or vats of about 60 gallons capacity, lined with zinc and furnished with a cover.  Heat is applied by the introduction of steam through a series of perforated pipes arranged in the bottom of the tank.  The steam is generated in an ordinary boiler standing close at hand.  The lobsters are not thrown directly into the vat, as the operation of removing them after cooking would in such an event be an exceedingly tedious one; but an iron framework basket, of rather slender bars is made to fit the tank loosely, and is lowered and raised by means of a small derrick placed over the tank.  This frame, which holds about 300 pounds, is filled with lobsters at the edge of the wharf from the floating cars, and is then carried to the tank and lowered into it after the water it contains has reached the desired temperature, that of boiling.  The water is first supplied to the tank, which is filled to about one-third or two-thirds its capacity, about a peck of salt is added, and then the steam is turned on.  The same water suffices for several successive boilings, about 2 quarts of salt being added each time.  The lobsters are allowed to remain in about half an hour, or until the proper red color indicates they are sufficiently cooked.

[Illustration:  Boiling live lobsters preparatory to shipping on ice, showing boiler, steam tank, cage, etc.]

After cooling, they are packed in barrels for shipment, just as live lobsters are.  When well iced they will keep a week or longer.  Only live lobsters are boiled, as the meat of those which die prior to boiling deteriorates rapidly.

The fishermen and small dealers use various kinds of boilers, from an ordinary washboiler to a smaller form of the regular boiler used by the large dealers.  The product prepared by these people is generally picked from the shell and sold locally in that condition.  This opens a way for the fisherman to evade the 10-1/2 inch limit law.  They frequently take lobsters under the minimum legal size and, after boiling them, pick the flesh.  It is then impossible for anybody to tell what sized lobster the meat had come from.  Quite a local trade in the picking of lobsters has been established in a number of small coast towns, the meat generally being sold in the immediate vicinity.

The following table shows the extent of the wholesale lobster trade in Rockland and Portland during 1898, including everything connected with the business except the smacks and pounds, which are shown elsewhere.  There are a few other dealers scattered along the coast, but most of the business is concentrated at these cities.  An idea of the extent of the increase in the lobster trade of Portland can be gained when it is stated that in 1880 about 1,900,000 pounds of lobsters, valued at $70,000, were handled here, while 6,145,821 pounds, valued at $611,955, were handled in 1898.

Extent of the wholesale lobster trade of Rockland and Portland
in 1898.