These photos by Nick Nekeferoff were taken in the early days of Kodiak's king crab industry (photos stored at the Alutiiq Museum). It looks like they just caught them and took them back to the cannery (probably Port Wakefield on Raspberry Island). Today the crab fishermen have to keep the crabs alive in the hold until they get to the cannery or the cannery will not buy the crab. Like lobster, crab is suppossed to be cooked alive. This is why contemporary crab fishermen are obsessive about monitoring the conditions in their hold (water circulation etc) - Everyone's paycheck is dependant on the crabs getting back alive.
I do not know how they did it in the old days - but judging by one of these photos (guy holding up the crab) it looks like they gutted them on the boat. (PGS)
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