BOILING.

Live lobsters are much preferred by the trade throughout the country,
and only those that can not be marketed in such condition are boiled.
The number boiled fluctuates considerably, owing to the condition
of the markets. When the fresh markets of Boston and New York are
overstocked, the lobster dealers of Rockland and Portland, where most
of the Maine lobsters are boiled, proceed to boil their surplus stock.

The following description of the boiling is from The Fisheries and
Fishery Industries of the United States, section v, vol. II, p. 684:


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