Crabs

My Master Mason, Colin Burns, was a Portland Mason. He used to go crabbing under the Portland ledges with his friend at extreme low tides, pulling out the crabs and lobsters with a stick.

One day his friend went alone.:(

They didn't find his body till the next low tide, he'd tried to get a crab out by hand, the crab had arched his body, trapping the poor guys hand against the roof of the ledge.

Perfect defense mechanism for the crab, all it had to do was wait for the tide to come back in.

 

That's pretty horrendous Zig, but strangely not that surprising. As early as I can remember, my dad taught me and really drummed it in, never go onto the rocks alone. There was a bloke round here when I was little who had to cut his own thumb off in a similar type thing. He'd gone crabbing on the rocks, alone, and when looking in one of the many crevices he saw a face looking back. Not a crab but a large eel (later ID'ed as a conger eel). He decided he'd have it for his tea. Shoved his hand in to grab it, but it grabbed him first and wouldn't let go. It also wouldn't come out no matter how hard he pulled. He hadn't told anyone where he was going, so it became a stand-off. The tide started to come in, and this chap was faced with a choice. Lucky for him he had a good knife with him, and he could reach his trapped thumb with it.

 

Oh God,

Point taken, the knife in my pocket is not that sharp. It will be tommorow though, never know when you need it to be:OUCH: