'Sponge Market, Nassau, Bahamas', 1930s. At the height of the Bahamian sponge industry at the turn of the 20th century, the sponge fleet consisted of some 600 vessels. Sponges were cleaned and trimmed in the warehouse, and then taken to the packing yard, where they were laid out to dry in the sun and sorted by quality. [W. R. Saunders and I.O Sands]