The Savannah morning news., 1902-02-27
DEEP SEA DIVING A GAMBLE.
PEARL FISHERS wIio ARE NOT
AVERsE TO SPECULATION.


Amphibians Prefer TO Take
Chances ON the Outcome of Their
Dangerous CnlIing-Big Profits
Sometimes in Venture.
From the New York Sun.
The commuters were telling fish sto-
ries. The Englishman. who is visiting
a married daughter in Jersey, listened,
with the normal Englishmans interest
in sport.
much of fisherman yourself?"
asked one of the commuters.
well, l don't go in for it now.
never saw a tarpon or a muskallonge,
but I've landed a salmon or two, in
my time" said the Englishman mod
estly. Then he added:
I've seen queer fishing. though, and
cnce 1 caught a fish that l sold for
$780,"
The commuters looked impressed.
They had been testing the elasticity of
truth a trile themselves.
What were you fishing for?" asked
the most curious.
Pearls" said the Ehglishman quiet
ly.
That was outside of the commuters
preserves so they quieted down.
1T was a long time ago." the Eng.
lishman went on. but it was good
sport. | think l preferred it to salmon
fishing. I'm unpatriotic enough to like
the Far East better than the Scottish
country. | was born in India. Give me
blue sky and a broiling sun and a
sea bluer than the sky. | hate your
gray worlds.
was sent home to my grandfather
When | was youngster but as soon as
| grew up and was my own master, I
began globe trotting. / trotted into n
good many out of the way countries,
most of them in Asia. Southern Eu-
rope isn't so bad in the summer time
DID you ever go coral fishing down on
the coast of Corsica or Sicily? No; well
that has its picturesque features too.
Ana | suppose you never fished for
sponges?
We gone out with coral and sponge
fleets, but once l spent a whole season
with pearlers on the Bahrein banks in
the Persian Gulf
Il hadn't any idea of staying there
j. when l happened along. / was travel
ing with couple of Jewel merchants.
| had seen pearl fishing on the CeyIon
banks. The government ran things
down there, you know. but the .Ceylon
maui had never equalled the Persian
pearl harvest Anybody could fish in
the Persian Gulf. The divers came
from all along the coast, but the rights
of the different outfits were defined by
custom. The Bahrein boats stuck to
their limits, the Pirate Coast boats to
theirs.
Il dropped down there early in June
The pearl season begins in June, but
most of the June diving is done in shall
low water. At least. that's the way it
used to be. | suppose diving apparatu
has changed things there as every
where. although they tell me the native
divers still work along in the old way
in the gulf. | got the pearl fever. IT
wasn't that l cared so much about the
pearls, but the whole thing interested
me. So ! stayed bought boat, hired
some divers and went into business
One literally bought the divers The
fishermen were beastly poor The
whole trade was run by merchants.
They owned the boats and loaned the
divers money for .inteiest If the fish
ers had big luck, they might pay cut
and find themselves, rich at the end Of
the season. If they had poor luck, they
might be in debt up to their eyebrows
and starve. My men thought they had
a snap. l put up the money and gave
them equal shares with me in all find
ings.
Now tell you, the pearl business is
the biggest lottery speculation ]. ever
ran up against. 1t beats the Derby
and Monte Carlo and your national
game of poker. Merchants, fakirs,
speculate tors all flocked to the pearl dis
trict in season. Nobody knew what he
was getting if he bought the oysters
unopened They were worth about 50
a hundred in that state. You might
buy a car load and get nothing, Then
again l knew of natives who bought
small baskets of oysters and found
enough pearls in them to set them up
for life.
Sometimes the divers received
wages-starvation wages. More often
they got a certain share of the oysters
Usually there wasn't a fixed scale. A
man was paid according to his skill
The boats were OF different sizes, ten to
twenty tons. There wer usually three
or four thousand OF them on the banks
from June TO September, and / remem-
ber the year I was there. the value of
the annual haul was estimated at be-
tween e400.000 and G450.000 sterling
Ordinarily ten men went with boat
and took along five big diving stones.
When they reached the fishing grounds
they anchored, and half the men
stripped and went over the side. Then
irving stones fastened to- ropes,
were lowered from the boat. The diver
stopped up his nose with clay or wax.
put a small basket on his arm. drew
long breath, set one foot on the diving
CT nd hold the The Cl4IO1
in the boat let the stone go. Tip
down to the bottom. You'll hear all
sorts of wild stories about the length
of time these chaps will stay under
water, but they are fairy tales. Men
who knew told me that ninety seconds
was the limit, and that there were
mighty few divers who could stay down
for a minute Only two of my men
could beat 40 seconds.
When the diver has picked up as
many shells as he can he comes to
the surface, and the man i'm the boat
hauis the stone up. The diver rests
a few minutes and goes down again.
When he is played out he gets into the
boat and the other man takes his turn.
Figuring on a basis of payment in
oysters. which he would usually sell
unopened the diver would earn about
two cents a dive. M
There were lots of exaggerated sto-
ries told about the sufferngs of the
divers. their short lives and the dis
eases of all kinds from which they suf-
fered The work does give them in
famed eyes, but / didn't see anything
of ulcers and paralysis and lung. trou-
BILE and all that. The deep breathing
gave them chests that We're astonisn-
ing. and their muscular development
Hpp Of potftsgq Whap "a hoy ufao