The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-01-14

IF Pearls Are Found They Add to
the Reward, but the Pearl Shell
Is the Real Object of Search
Fortune for the Man Who Will
Invent a Suit for Deep Sea
Diving.
At the recent international commercial
| congress at Philadelphia, Herbert BOW
den, a delegate from the Torres Strait OF
| Queensland a man who himself has been
a pearl diver, described the great pearl
| industry of the antipodes as follows!
AS am a. delegate from Torres Straits,
| I wish to confine my remarks to the man
ner in which the industry is worked
there and it will apply. in the main, to
| all the industries where pearl shell Is pro-
| cured.
The island is nested among other ISL
ands. and is haven for all boats en-
gagged in this industry. It is here that all
the boats are licensed, receive their pro-
visions. and it is here that all the boats
hand up the catch for the year or OF
each trip.
The island Is small one, about four
and q half miles In circumference, and
was, seven years ago, fortified by the
imperial government. The population
consists of 300 Europeans and 1000 color
ed people of all the various nationalities
under the sun. We have found it Of great
advantage in the past, and at the present
time, in having SO many different ma
tionalities. When there are many men OF
different natlonalities in a boat there is
no loaf1ng or gambling.
| The modes of procuring the shell are
/ by swimming-naked divers-and by the
air pump, etc. AS the latter is thu most
| improved manner I will deal with that
| first.
| A schooner will have fleet Of from ten
to fifteen pearling luggers. These luggers
will run from eight to fifteen tons regis
ter, and cost s1.750. To this Is added $3.50
for diving pump, dress, helmet, etc. With
the small boats working with the fleets,
they are never allowed to work at any
very great distance from the tender or
schooner, 1t has been found by men who
work in the schooners to be of great adj
vantage and saving Of time to keep their
vessels out from periods Of six to twelve
months. From the grounds to the center
there will sometimes be at least 200 miles.
SAVE THE PEARLS.
IQSy dlSOy ny tQlS IletuHST "a WOfkluBl
SECURE all the pearls, the shells being
collected daily, taken abroad the schoon-
| ers and opened and the owners get the
pearls, whereas when they are working
from the shore, these are simply in the
hands Of the crew. The crew Of boat
consists of diver, who is master, having
divers license; next Is the tender, who
looks after the lifeline and pipe, and then
crow Of four or five men, tho whole COM
| prising six or seven men OF all nationals
ties. -
The largest Smelling area is what Is
known as ''old grounds Those are she'll
! waters, running from six to eight
fathoms, and the she'll; procured. from
these grounds Is known as Chicken
and Is the best quality of SHE'LL. The
diver works from in the morning to
or at night, coming up for the pur-
pose of refreshments or to get air. The
refreshment is very light, for O. man in
a diving dress does not have his meals
until his work Is over. 80 ~ {
| The diver, when he finds that he is gon
| a good Smelling ground, shorteps the san
and let's go the anchor, the vessel drifting
with the tide, and as the man who! Is
diving has to walk on the bottom, there
must be some check on the drifting boat.
This is done by means of letting go the
anchor. When they have gotten to the
start operations again. In the deep
water diving, in which there have been
over 100 fatalities which have taken away
the cream of the divers, the manner of
working is slightly different. A man will
dive In slack water between the turn Of
the tide, from ebb to flood or flood to ebD.
Tte dives in 80, and indeed he has been
known to go So fathoms. That will seem
| little bit Of romance, but assure you
that men are diving 200 feet deep at the
present time,
SCIENTIFIC DIVING.
The older divers do 1t on rather q
scientific plan; that is to say, the tender
lowers the diver down, has his watch in
his hand and allows four minutes for the
diver to descend to the bottom, four min
utes for working at the bottom and four
minutes for getting to the top. Really.
the man Is IL minutes in dress and
helmet. Tho diver will not descend more
than three times day, and although the
life is a risky one, there is not much
labor attached to it. The shell Is so thick
in these deep waters that the men will
probably get six, seven, eight OF nine
tons per year, whereas a man in shallow
water is very lucky if he gets three.
I have found from statistics that the
average last year was 31a tons per boat
per year. I might remark If there is any
inventive genius here-I know that Amer
lea is full Of it, will be very happy to
join in any company who can invent a
diving suit In which man can work In