St. Paul daily globe., 1893-02-27
LUCK OF a PEARL FISHER.
Once Driven Overheard by Bru-
tai skipper, but Now a Vessel
Owner.

Once Driven Overheard by BrGI-
tai skipper, but Now a Vessel
Owner.
| Robert J. Holloway, who is a pearl
| fisher halling from Thursday island,
| was recently IN San Francisco on his
way back to his seagirt home Oh the
other side OF the Pacific. MI. Holloway
gave d Chronicle man some highly i'll
! terestng facts relative TO his dangerous
| but occasionally highly lucrative occu-
| patton.
81 scarcely know what made me take
| to fishing up oyster shells as profess
sion.'' he said, ''hut [ suppose 1t pre-,
sented opportunities for adventure aud
excitement which fascinated lie.
| Twenty three years ago | was all ap-
prentice on board an English ship trad
! Ing in the Polyne5ian arcnlpelago. and
used 10 envy the pearlerS and inter
! island traders their free and careless
| life among the beautiful tropical islands.
| AS is often the case, [ had a brutal
skipper. and this helped nee to resolve
to run away from the vessel
and throw in my lot with the
pearl fishers. One dark night when
! we were at Batavia dropped over the
|. side and went ashore. Here L lad no
difficulty in getting employment on one
of the small luggers which was to sail
at daybreak. spent two years on TINS
little vessel and saved what earned,
and having by that time what | thought
sufficient experience. L started III a
tmall way for myself, pearling and
rading in 'beche de mer' with the na-
tivtS. Sometimes we had trouble with
the savageS; but. taken all through, the
risks incurred were we'll cunpeHSateq
for by the large profits in the trade.
''ln 1879 had become the owner Of
fine lugger,and i employed eight DIVERS,
all Kanakas, who use no diving appara-
tus whatever, and san remain under
water for several minutes at a time.
This season | was operating in the bay
of Carpentaria, and was extremely fort
innate in getting pearls, although /
lost three of my men by sharks.
These men take great rlske, seeming
to have no fear of the sWarmS of
sharks that infest the water. The
| divers have large stone attached by
! cord to the boat. With this weight in
| their hands they dive overheard and
! sink rapidly to the bottom. Then,
grabbing all shells within reach, they
! fiji the network bag hung around their
/ neckS and come TO the surface With
| their cargo"
"What percentage of the shells con-
tain pearls?" asked the reporter.
"Well. there is no rule" explained
! Mr.. Holloway. Sometimes we don't
! get decent pearl in boat load, and
| again we may make rich haul III a
handful OF them. The small opaque
| pearl is common enough, and of really
little value. One good big one is worth
a pailful of them. After fishing on the
coast Of West Australia for a couple
OF years l tried the New Guinea
| fisheries. Here | was very sue
cessful, and in '79 | settled
down at Thursday island, determined
to make that my headquarters while my
boats went IN different directions. BY
this time had three large peaTiing yes
sells and employed about fifty men. At
the present time | run eleven boats and
| paw about hundred men. OF course
| all of the vessels are not equally sue
cessful, some of them often running me
into loss tor the year. Pearls
are now very fashionable in Eu-
rope, and there is a great de-
| mand for the best sorts. ] have
| just been to Vienna. Paris and London,
| where | have disposed of some eXtraor-
| dinary good specimens at prices which
l have notreceiyed for years previously.
do most of my business with Amster-
| dam, and l have ii Oh authority OF my
! agents there that three of the finest
pearls in a necklace worn by the
Princess of Wales are from my fish
| cries"