which is responsible for providing oceanographic products and services to all elements of the Department of Defense. It provides the best available knowledge of the maritime battlespace and services that aid in safe navigation and effective mission planning. The Naval Oceanographic headquarters is located at John C. Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi.
In this particular career, you are at sea for at least 3 months annually. He and his wife had no children and traveled the world for his work.They collected a multitude of items from all over the globe during those decades and continued traveling and collecting in their retirement. There have been three auctions thus far to disburse his possessions, and there are at least 2 more to go.Hand-blown glass fishing floats were used from the 1800s through the late 1960s when they were phased out by molded plastic floats.
Glass fishing floats are hollow glass shapes that fishermen used to attach to their lines or their nets to hold the sides of the net, the headline, or the mouth of a trawl net up toward the surface of the water. They vary from small golf ball sizes to massive sizes with diameters of 12" and more. The small ones were possibly used for hand-line or rod fishing, as well as for finer diameter mesh nets (used for herring, sprats, trout, sardines, shad, and larger fish such as salmon in bays, rivers and lakes). The 4.5 to 6" diameter floats were most often used for cod gillnets, trawl nets and to mark traps. The very large ones, like this one, were used to mark net settings and to float and mark the long lines used especially by Japanese deep sea fishermen in the mid 20th Century.
Glass floats were encased in a protective netting of rope, string, wood and later, plastic or metal. Many of the fishing floats collected today still retain their original netting, as I believe this one does.
Floats were often made from recycled glass, from incorrectly-mixed batches of molten glass or from glass left over from other jobs. They were made as cheaply and quickly as possible, which accounts for the floats with glass that is literally filled with bubbles, streaks of other colors, large bubbles of glass sucked into the float at the seal, spindles of glass that extend inside the floats from end to end or side to side, etc. These idiosyncrasies make them interesting and more valuable to collectors. I often think that floats were most likely considered during the times of their use, to be similar to today's throw-a-ways. Most were colored various shades of green, aqua, amber or clear.
Glass fishing floats were heavily used all over Europe and North America by all of the fishing countries. We know the names of many of the companies who produced them. There are references to their use in books and photos, but at present there is hardly any information to explain the markings which are found on many floats and very little information about their manufacturers.
I highly recommend Fed Ex Home Delivery from this end. I have never had any problems with them and item generally arrives sooner that with USPS. For large, heavy items, they are also generally less costly. I sold a 9" fishing float from the same estate, It went to MN from IN by Fed Ex for less than $15. Quote for USPS Ground was over $32; priority was over $50. I have had slow delivery issues with USPS Ground Advantage 3 times during the past year.