Pungering

[Trevor Bodiam]

Pungering.

How many of you have heard of this word ?
It came back to me a couple of days ago - just popped into my head from nowhere.
Around 1956 or thereabouts Mum had to go into hospital and Dad being a night worker couldn’t look after me so i was shipped off to Broadstairs to my Aunt and Uncles for about 2 weeks.
Uncle Sid told me we would go Pungering and i was completely baffled by the word and no idea what it meant.
He got into the car carrying 3 or 4 short rods of wood about 18 inches long [rough guess] that had large hooks attached to the end. I was still mystified when he drove to the beach and started exploring the rock pools.
Then he said there’s a crab in there and demonstrated that by inserting the hook into the rock crevices and twisting and turning you could dislodge the crabs from their hiding places.
After this Pungering kept me entertained for very long periods
Never done it since and still only heard it referred to that one time in my life.
Before anyone makes any cracks i do stress that this method is only for marine life use.

[Tony Taylor]

Pungering.

How many of you have heard of this word ?
It came back to me a couple of days ago - just popped into my head from nowhere.
Around 1956 or thereabouts Mum had to go into hospital and Dad being a night worker couldn’t look after me so i was shipped off to Broadstairs to my Aunt and Uncles for about 2 weeks.
Uncle Sid told me we would go Pungering and i was completely baffled by the word and no idea what it meant.
He got into the car carrying 3 or 4 short rods of wood about 18 inches long [rough guess] that had large hooks attached to the end. I was still mystified when he drove to the beach and started exploring the rock pools.
Then he said there’s a crab in there and demonstrated that by inserting the hook into the rock crevices and twisting and turning you could dislodge the crabs from their hiding places.
After this Pungering kept me entertained for very long periods
Never done it since and still only heard it referred to that one time in my life.
Before anyone makes any cracks i do stress that this method is only for marine life use.

I have done that loads of times but never had a name for it, could be local to that area.

[Trevor Bodiam]

Have just googled PUNGERING and found some references to the word, and most seem to be from Margate,Broadsyairs area so maybe its their local name. Below is quote from web article.
Going pungering for edible crabs off Joss bay, fishing off Broadstairs Pier. Going to Dreamland in Margate to the dances, lots of top groups then. I remember the Jean Pierre Et Phillip going aground off Broadstairs and watching the crew being winched ashore. I still have one of the glass floats from that boat.

[Harry Nicholson]

Not heard of pungering. I used to go crabbing in the same manner off Hartlepool headland. Old Mr Jones next door was a master at the craft. Iput together this memory of the old chap (Boer War veteran):
Mr Jones is also clever at hunting for crabs on the rocks at low tide. He's made a long, thin iron rod, hooked at the end, that he pokes into the deep cracks and crannies around the rock pool edges. He drags out big edible crabs and brings them home to keep alive in the family's enamelled iron bath. Until all the crabs are sold nobody can have a soak. People from up and down the street call in to inspect them and take one home to boil. I peep into the bath. Six crabs scuttle about, claws tied up so they don’t fight each other. I don't like to imagine how it feels for those crabs when they're tossed into boiling water.
His daughter, Eva, shouts through a cloud of Wild Woodbine cigarette smoke. 'Hey, Dad, do you remember when you caught that big conger eel and kept it in the bath?'
'Aye, I do. That Tommy Heron down the street bought her and when he'd done the gutting he found a gold ring in the belly, the jammy devil!'

[happy daze john in oz]

Crabs, very popular here in Oz.
But to go looking for them can be frought with danger in some parts.
Look in rock pools for them but be warned, that is the home of the blue Ringed Octopus.
A very small one but with a deadly bite, one bite from them and it can be 'good night nurse'.

[Keith at Tregenna]

Pungering, Catching shore crabs.

K.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Pungering, Catching shore crabs.

K.

Hi Keith.
I wish I had known that many years ago, I caught them off an AB on one ship.
Des

[happy daze john in oz]

Hi Keith.
I wish I had known that many years ago, I caught them off an AB on one ship.
Des

Yes Des but with a little bit of Blue Unction sauce they are very tasty I am informed.

[Keith Tindell]

Best cure, glass of whisky and a handful of sand, they get pi**** up and stone each other to death, kt