The Penn's Grove record., 1899-04-07
Q~UEENSLAND'S ILL-LUCK
A TERRIBLE HURRICANE ALMOST DE-
STROYS HER PEARL FISHERIES.

A Perilous Industry, But, III the Fates Are
Propitious, II is Extremely lucrative
The Divers Get Many Scares Below
From Sharks and Poisonous Fish.
The terrible hurricane that recently
overwhelmed the pearl and pearl shell
fishermen off the northeast coast of
Queensland, Australia, destroyed the
lives of about half the men and half
the vessels of the fleet engaged in the
fisheries. On an average about 1000
men and 200 boats are engaged in
these fisheries for five months in the
year. The dispatch from Brisbane,
Queensland, says atthree schoorers
and eighty luggers were wrecked and
400 colored and eleven white men were
drowned. The vessels employed in
these fisheries consist chiefly of strong,
lugger-rigged craft averaging ten tons
burden. The crew Of each lugger in
cludes the diver, the tender who holds
the life lines and attends to all sig
mails from the diver, and four working
hands. Most of the men are colored,
of various nationalities, aborigines liv-
ing near the fisheries, South Sea Isl
anders and Manila, Chinese, japanese
and Malay divers.
If the fates are propitious pearl div
ing in these waters is lucrative, but
the dangers are numerous. The great
est peril is that brought by the terri
BILE windstorms which visit this coast
and carry everything before them.
Few vessels OF the pearl shell feet
ever outlive n of these storms. The
tender keeps his eye out for any signs
of a hurricane and when they are dis
covered the pearl-fshing business is
suspended and the boats seek refuge
in some sheltering cove. The divers
get many scares below. The sight of
n ffteen-foot shark making a Decline
Tor a man is enough to weaken the
stoutest nerve; neither is it pleasant
to have a large turtle persist in cult
waiting neighborly relations. The lit
tie stonefish is one of the enemies of
the divea. 1t seems to make its habi-
tation beneath the pearl shell and the
diver is sometimes bitten when he
picks up the shell. The bite is poi
sonous, though not fatal, and the vic
tim often suffers vel pain for sew
erai days. The business of diving is
most injurious to health. Some of the
men do not withstands.its effects, but
die in a few months, while deafness
and incipient paralysis frequently at
tack the divers.
The shell is now pretty we'll worked
out in the shallow waters and so the
naked native divers are not so much
employed as they formerly were, for
they cannot work with success beyond
a depth of sixty feet, and most of the
shells are now obtained only by means
men wearing the well-known divers
dress. One hundred and twenty feet
is the greatest depth from which the
shell is proitably taken and few
divers can stand the strain OF pro-
work under the pressure at
depth. The man in q diving
dress usually remains under water an
hour or two.
Pearl shell fishing was formerly
on along the north coast of
western Australia, but those grounds
are pretty well worked out. The new
grounds lie on both sides of Cape
York Peninsula, across Torres Strait
to New Guinea and down the north
coast of Queensland nearly to
.ooktown. The quest for pearls is
incidental to these fisheries,
which are carried on for shell, or
mother-of-pearl. On an average about
1000 shells are taken for every pearl
that is found and yet the ever present
hope of securing a fine pearl stimu-
.ates the interest of the workers. The
pearls of fashion are said to be
only by the mother of-pearl
she'll, such as is found in these waters
and in the Persian Gulf. The pearls
the Queensland region are of fine
'ize and quality, but not one shell in
thousands produce a perfect spec
men. The most valuable per~l find
.hus far on the Queensland coast il
known as the Southern Cross, a
of six pearls in the shape of a
which was valued when it
exhibited in London in 1886 at
900. 1t was found at low water
oy an old beachcomber, who sold it
or $50. The best pearl shell is three
1r four years old and large shells
weigh from six to eight pounds a pair;
out as the possible shells they may
contain do not depend upon the age
Or size of the shell, many small shells
are ruthlessly opened as though there
vas no law fer their protection.
all the pearl shell goes to the
London market and the pearls to
Sydney and Brisbane capital
chiefly interested in the industry,
but in 1892 the Japanese also entered
the field and now hold about a fifth of
the trade.
These fisheries have for years held
an important position among the
industries of Queensland, ~fuctuating
between the sixth and eighth place in
list of her principal exports,
The calamity that has destroyed half
Of the pearl shell fisheries fleet has
accordingly badly crippled one of the
leading commercial enterprises of the