Wooden Ships and Iron Men Make Up Pearl Fishing Fleet

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 27, 16 February 1937, Page 15

Wooden Ships and Iron Men Make Up Pearl Fishing Fleet

Hardship and Rigours of Tropic Industfy

AJAPANESB captain, whom I met in Darwin, summed up the belief of Japanese seamen in the saying: "Wooden ships make men of iron, and }ron ships make men of cotton." He said that the Japanese conception of seamanship had been modelled on the system that had made English seamen famous on the seas (writes K. C. Hardy in the Sydney Morning Herald). One night when a strong sea was running and waves were washing over the stern of a lugger on which I was travelling, this saying came back forcibly as I watched the Japanese steersman holding the tiller throughout the night. He crooned to himself a peculiar dirge. His thoughts were prpbably far away in Japan as he sat on a box, huddled in a greatcoat, with seas washing around his bare feet. Apparently, he had no thought for the discomfort he was enduring. Some months ago I was looking out to sea when a Japanese lugger, correetly called .a ketch, put into Darwin from the pearling grounds. ' ' • » ♦ » JT was short of water and food. The little water that was on board had been contaminated, and the crew was suffering from dysentery. The quarantine doctor went on board for the customary inspection. He found that the Japanese, although they had been suffering hardships, would not speak of their troubles. As he was leaving the boat, he heard' sounds coming from the hold. He looked in and saw one of the Japanese crew lying at the bottom wrapped in a filthy blanket. Descending, he found that the fellow had a broken leg, and if left any longer would surely have died. He had the man taken to hospital in Darwin. The Japanese later told him that the man had fallen down the hold. They knew he was dying, yet had not sought assistance for him, Heavy Mortality. EACH year there is a heavy mortality amongst the Japanese divers through paralysis, caused by working too long or too deep on the pearlshell beds, yet there are always plenty more to take their places undeterred by the risks. In Darwin, the Japanese off the boats are good spencjers and inveterate gamblers*. They never give trouble in the town. They hold themselves aloof from the rest of the coloured population. With the white they are confldent, but not aggressive. On the luggers where they work with Malays they set themselves on a much higher plane than the Malays, and secure the best of accommodation and food. Actually, thiey are the superior offlcers of the Malays. Strangely enough, the common lan-

guage for the whlte pearl shellers and Japanese in this lndustry ls Malay. It is much easier to pick up. Most of the Japanese in the pearling lndustry are from one particular part of Japan— a fishing community. Many are related, and generaily they are uneducated. Consequently, few, even after many years of contact, pick up more than a knowledge of "pidgin" English. On the other hand, few white men know more than a few words of Japanese. The Malay language, simple and expressive, fills all requlrements. 'J'HESE short, sturdy, unimaginativelooking Japanese on the pearling boats are superstitious. They do not like burying their dead at sea, and when a death occurs leave the pearlshell patches and sail for port. Many white men in the lndustry have had a dead Japanese for a companion ln their cabins for days on a long sail to port. At Dobo, in the Aru Island (Dutch possessions off the coast of Northern Aus- • tralia) there is a huge cemetery of Japanese graves, which has grown over the years. Broome, on the north-west Australian coast, and Thursday Island also have large Japanese cemeteries. Darwin has many graves. Cheerful Malays. JJALAYS on the luggers are a different type from the Japanese. They are as a rule cheerful and lazy. They like to be driven by a white man when they understand him, then they look upon him with adoration. They are good seamen. They are like children, laughing heartiiy at the slightest thing. In Dbbo, in the Aru Islands, I had the fortune to n^eet Chum Jardine, a huge AUstralian of the weli-known Cape York family, who was known to every Australian pearler. He had been in the pearling game since his youth. He was young when Australians controlled peafling, not only on the Australian coast, but throughout a large part of the Dutch East Indies, when huge pearling fleets sailed from Thursday Island and Broome, complete with mother ships. • * * * QHUM Jardine had settied as a trader at Dobo. He was pearl shell buyer, banker, petrol agent, and a host of other things. He was a strong man, and was looked up to as a father by all the natiVes (Malays) young and old. He used to bully And drfU them with a twinkle in his ieyes. They Used to rush in to him to settle their disputes. He had his own little coral island off the • coast, to which he intended retiring to live in laziness, but he died suddfihly from blood poisonlng. All the natives in the town and adjacent Islands went hlto mourning for him as for a father or chief. They all attended his funeral, and the

mourning in the islands lasted for weeks. He was the type of white man whom the Maiays liked. The luggers used in the pearling lndustry are really ketches, from abOut 17 to 20 tons. They are excellent sea boats, particularly sUitable to the short seas of the tropics. Space ls limited, for, besides a ' crew of eight to ten, room is required for an auxiliary engine, pearl shell, diving gear, food and water, and they are required to stay at sea for a long tlme. Most of the boats are infested with cockroaches. It seems imposslbie to rld the boats of these loathsome insects. Zn hot tropic nights they take possession of the cabins, flying and crawlihg over one's flnger-nails and toe-nails. When at sea lt is much preferable to sleep on the open deck if the seas and the rain do not prevent it. Most pf the crews stretch out on the decks at night. Hard Life. T IFE on a pearling lugger is as tough a :J life as it }s possible to imagine. Food, as cooked by the Malays or Japanese, coiisists almost solely of rice, on which is pouted a stew. Everything seems' to. find its way ihto the stewpot. Cooking facilities are necessarily most meagre. Meals are taken on the deck at any time that offers the best opportunity. My flrst meal on a lugger was washed along the deck immediately I took my eyes off it to dodge a boom. It was unpalatably flavpured with salt wat^r when retrieved, but thereafter I kept a good grip of my plate. Night amongst the pearling fleets at work on a cairn sea is full of glahiour. The Japanese and Malays sing monotonous Crooning songs as they work at opeh|ng the mother-of -pearl oysters by lamp light. The hoats cluster together. From soirie Of the boats gramophones tinkle out sttange or well-known American tunes. * * • • rTHERE is great activity on the fleets when shell is plehtiful. It is an inspiring scene on a still, warm tropical night, which hides the sordidness and squalour of the crews and boats. The oysters from the pearl shell are trlmmed and hung from the rigging of the luggers to dry' by Malays and Japanese. They are fancied as food, especially by Ohinese, when they dry. An expert can tell the' amount of shell taken by a boat by the quahtity of oysters hanglng from the rigging. Fresh water ls so. valuable at sea that it pannot be used by the crews for washingThey merely strip off theix clothes, selzfe a bucket, arid let bucketfuls of refreshing sea water pour over their heads. The Japanese are specially" careful cleaning their teeth.