To Live, the Oyster Must Die

While Bram piloted the boat back and forth, the lads worked the levers that lowered the dredge. We then towed it along the bottom, before the hydraulics winched it back up again. The dredge is made of nylon mesh and chainmail, and is about three feet across and a foot high. Its trap door opened to dump dozens of oysters onto a shelf on the transom.