PEARLING FLEETS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 35, 11 February 1937, Page 24

PEARLING FLEETS

_ND THEIR IRON MEN

SEVERE HARDSHIPS /

v A Japanese captain, whom. I met in Darwin, summed ■up the belief of Japanese seamen ■: in the -; saying: 'Wooden ships'make men of iron, and iron ships make men of cotton," writes K.- C. Hardy in the "Sydney.-Morning Herald." He said that the Japanese conception of seamanship had been modelled on the system that had made English seamen famous on the seas. .

:; One, night when a strong sea ■ was running and waves were washing over the i 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 w.ere probably far away in Japan as he. sat on a box, hiidjdled in a--great-coat, with seas washing around his bare feet. Appar-

serjtly, herhad no-thought for the;,dis-doniforthe'-was enduring;.- V

If Some.months.ago I(was/: looking out to sea when a: Japanese lugger, correctly called a ketch,put;into Darwin from itie j pearling '■■'grounds.' It was short of ■water, arid!food.'' The little water that Mfcs on .bparcU'had .been,contaminated, and; the crew ;was suffering from dysentery. ■■The;;'quara'ntine doctor wen^on 'board forithe. customary inspection. He found that the Japanese, although they b^d ; 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 Dar;w'in. 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. .*,■ 'Each year there is a heavy.mortality :amongst the Japanese divers through .paralysis,' caused, by 'working too long ■ or too deep on the pearl-shell beds, yet v'there'are always. plenty more to take :th'eir places, undeterred by the risks. i: : ,■;'■''■ '■'■-■';' :■■.'■■,: . ■ ■ "■' -'.:;' ;■ INVETERATE GAMBLERS.^ .' fin Darwin,. the Japanese■ .off.;., the .boats are-good 'spenders':and inveterate •gamblers.. They 'never give trouble inthe .town. '■' They" hold, themselves, aloof •■from the rest ,of-the-coloured, population. With the ; white, they- are:confident, but not;aggressive.:,': On : the lug-; ■gers where they. .wbrk-C-with Malays 'they set.themselves |on avmuch higher :'pl£(ne than"'the Malays,'arid■ secure the %est of accommodation and. food; Ac"iually, they are:the. superior officers of ;th'e Malays. .--,.' ■•' .:.-.' ■■ l\ : - ;■ ■'* Strangely enough,-.the:;common .language for the white'pearl sheliers: and,' Japanese in this industry "is Malay. It is much easier to pick up. Most-of-the. Japanese in the pearling industry are, from one particular part of Jap.an, a fistiirig" community. Many are related, and generally 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 requirements. :\ These 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 .riien in the-industry have had a. dead Japanese for, a companion in their cabins for days on a long sail to port. .At • Dobo, in the Artr Island (Dutch possessions' off the coast of Northern Australia); there is a huge cemetery of Japanese graves, which has grown over the years. Broome, on the northwest Australian coast, and Thursday Island also have large Japanese cemeteries. Darwin has:many graves. CHEERFUL, LAZY MALAYS. ;, 'Malays 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 heartily' at. the slightest thing. ■ In Dobo, in. the Afu:lslands, I had the fortune' to .meet Cnum,; Jardine, a huge Australian of the: .well-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 con--1 trolled -pearling; not only ■ on: the Aus-tralian''coast;.Yb'ut-throughout a large 'part of the ..Dutch,.;Bast Indies, when huge pearling, fleets sailed.from Thursday Island and Broome, complete with mother ships. • - ■ •.Chum Jardine had! settled as a trader at Dobo. He was ipearl .shell buyer, 'banker,, petrol-agent, and a host, of other things:-:' He was a strong man, arid .-was looked up to as a -father by all the, natives (Malays), young and old. He used to bully and drill them with a twinkle in his eyes. 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 suddenly,-from blood poisoning. All the natives in the town and adjacent islands went into 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:this type of white man whom the Malays liked.. INFESTED WITH COCKROACHES. The luggers used in the pearling industry are really ketches, from about -17.t0 20 tons.- They are excellent sea •boats, ■particularly'suitable to the short fgeas. of the tropics. Space is limited, "for. besides a crew of eight to ten, ! room is required for an auxiliary engine, pearl shell, diving gear, food and : water, - and- theyj.-j.are;,required to. stay ..at sea^or-alpn^time;: ': . ..

. Most-,of, the boats'-arej'infested: with, cockroaches. It seems impossible to fidithe'boats;o|.:theseK loathsome ,in- ■ sects.^'. In take pbssessiqn4:df 'thegcattiil^-iflyingJ'and^ crawlirig-'over one^;rla^a^id;f eetThey gnaw 1 the-quick uhderlfinger-nails :and toe-nails., ■ When atssea;it;:;is -much; preferable :to sleep ori;th'e.topen deck^if theseas and'the rain',do"hot-jp,reverit-it. Most,of,the ci'ews stretch -duUon-the decksvat~: night:.; v ■' ■■::• :, Life'on a pearling lugger is as tough a life as it is possible, to: imagine. Food, as cooked' by the /Malays-or: Japanese,: j consists almost solely of rice;'on which is poured a stew..; Everything seems..to find its way into the stewpot.' Cooking facilities are necessarily most meagre. Meals are taken ...on,, the deck.,, at any time that offers the/best opportunity. My first meal, on .a lugger:. was-washed along the deck 'immediately 1.-took my eyes off it to dodge a boom. It was unpalatably flavoured with salt water when retrieved, but thereafter I kept a good grip on my plate. Night amongst the pearling fleets at work on a calm seals full of glamour. The Japanese and;.. Malays sing monotonous crooning . songs as they work at- opening the mother-of-pearl oysters by lamp light. The boats

cluster together. From some of the boats gramophones tinkle out strange or well-known American tunes."There is great activity . on, the v fleets when^ shell is plentiful. It •• is an inspiring scene on a.still, warm, tropical night, which,f;hides?,.the sordidness -and. squalpur'bf iheicrews and boats, : The';. Oysters"from the pearl shell are 'trimmed-and- hung -from the; rigging .of • the luggers ..'to 5 dry by.'-Malays... andJapanese. :.They are fancied as food, especially by Chinese, when they dry. An expert can tell the amount of shell taken by: a boat by the quantity of oysters--hanging.from .the.rigging.

Fresh water' is so valuable at sea that it cannot-be used by the crews for washing.-;• They merely strip off their clothes, seize a bucket, and let bucketfuls.of refreshing sea water pour over their heads. The Japanese are specially careful, cleaning, their teeth...