THE TORRES

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4562, 20 April 1942, Page 7

THE TORRES

PEARLERS AND THEIR FLEETS MORE JAPANESE PENETRATION

(By

H.W.L.S.)

Torres, lion-hearted captain, braving unknown perils of land and sea in his high-pooped shallow-waisted galleon, led the way. Spanish dons, Portuguese navigators and cartographers and stout-hearted Dutchmen followed in his wake, till the old English sea dogs came nosing their way along. Soon the praus of the traders and later the luggers of the pearlers and the canoes of the amphibious islanders followed, till the secrets of Torre’s sea bed held less of mystery than had her surface features in the earlier days. Now the air squadrons and the hostile armada from the far north!

In the old days, before Bligh and the modern luggers, the islands of these treacherous waters were the head quarters of the only real pirates Australia has yet known—a band of Asiatic cut-throats whose pleasure was to plunder Portuguese and Spanish vessels during their trading cruises to Manila and other Spanish colonies round the horn of New Guinea. Legend has it that the pirates were finally wiped out in a battle of extermination with a Spanish punitive party, and their accumulated loot is said to be still hidden somewhere on one of the islands. This belief has been strengthened by the discovery on one of the islands some years ago of a number of ancient Spanish coins. Many of the islands are riddled with caves, some of which have never been explored, and the pirates’ hoard, if it does exist, nfay be hidden in one of these. It is very unlikely, however, that the exterminators of the pirates did not find the hidden loot. Where the sunken craft claimed by the sea lies it would be hard to say, but wherever they are their old ribs are now solid coral.

Of coral, too, are many of the islets in the strait. It is supposed that these indicate the rim of an enormous submarine volcano, from the submerged edge of the crater of which coral insects built up to the surface to produce the tiny circlet of islands. At some time thereafter a cocoanut would get washed ashore, and so we are provided with a brand new group of islands, and an international squabble as to who saw it first. Throughout these waters, from the Barrier Reef to Arnhem Land, are coral belts, frequently not more than a mile wide, or even less, of a circular, oval or even triangular form, enclosing a central lagoon with an entrance on the side opposite to the direction of the prevailing trade wind. These passages are in some instances navigable for vessels of large tonnage; in others they consist of a mere depression in the surface of the reef sufficient to enable the natives to paddle their fishing canoes in and out of the lagoon at high tide. The lagoons themselves are shallow, though in some places they exhibit vast hollows with an apparent depth of 50 or more fathoms. SEA OF STORMS The Torres banks are worked by the pearlers and trepangers from March until the end of November, and usually for the first neap tides in December. From then on, until the following March, the sea is swept by sudden violent storms known locally as “Cockeye Bobs,” their coming corresponding with the “wet” of. the Northern Territory. Pearling can be worked only during the neap tides. During the spring tides the current is too strong for the diver, and in addition, where it is shallow enough ■to be worked, the water is discoloured by disturbance of the sea floor. A few weeks prior to Japan’s attack on New Guinea anything from 100 to 120 pearling luggers made their home anchorages in the harbour at Thursday Island, rarely together, but very often in fairly large concentrations. Seen from the balcony of a building overlooking the water the harbour is dotted with small craft lying beyond the edge of the reef which skirts the beach. Dinghies scurry between ship and shore. Some go rocketing through the water at the hands of a single native; others move inch by inch piled high with coloured humanity. Nothing daunts the man who takes the paddles. Wind and tide can both be hard against his cockle-shell craft; his passenger list may be enormous, but he gets there in the end. Crews of the luggers consist mostly of seasoned drivers, two in number, each with a tender and a white engineer. Number one diver is also skipper. The rest are made up of about a dozen Torres Strait islanders, Papuans or Australian aborigines. The islanders are magnificently built fellows, black as night, and how they can handle a lugger! THE PEA.RLING CRUISE The rattle of the anchor winch is usually the first sign of departure, as one lugger after another prepares to leave for the pearling grounds. Once clear of the anchorage up go the sails, gleaming in the sunlight, the boats heel to the bite of the breeze, and with white waves churning at the bows half a dozen graceful craft move off together.

They may be away for a week or

three months. Their story depends on many circumstances. Weather, provisions and, of course, their luck are the main factors. When (he weather gets rough “outside” the water on the grounds becomes dirty, and the divers cannot see to work below the surface. Twenty or thirty luggers will sometimes show up at Thursday Island together if a hard blow comes up and stays for a few days. Reefed down and close hauled under a stiff breeze, they come racing for shelter. It is a sight to be remembered. Throughout the twilight of the under sea the picture presented to the diver is most extraordinary and beautiful. On the undulating sea floor strange crabs, starfish, sea urchins, fat sausage-like sea slugs and other creatures, which appear more like freaks of Nature than natural species, rush to shelter among clumps of seaweed and strange undersea plants that bear queer flowers of striking beauty as the diver walks clumsily on, peering through the thick plate glass window in front of his massive helmet for a sign of a pearl oyster. >

During the spring tides the pearlers’ time is spent in laying off, taking in water, collecting stores and delivering shell. It was during this period/that the luggers from Nippon paid those “useful” visits to many secluded bays along our northern shores. THE JAPANESE INFLUX The large pearling, banks off Bathurst Island, during the last few years, a strong competitor to the Thursday Island field, were discovered by Urunaka, a Japanese pearler of Broome, some ten years ago. It was the discovery of these banks that led to the great influx of Japanese which, by the beginning of the Pacific war, had practically forced Australian-owned luggers out of business. In 1936 there were only 30 Japanese luggers on the banks; the following year there were 85, and the fleet has been augmented each season since then. On a sea as smooth as glass, and split up into three sections, the fleet of luggers, each with mainsail up, drift sideways within an area of between two and three square miles. White sails are reflected on the smooth surface of an opalescent pale blue sea which melts, with no definite horizon, into a pale blue sky; a sky that gradually deepens in blue toward the zenith. Tide streaks are a deeper blue, the lugger’s hulls are white, and here and there white sea birds wheel and whoop over the mastheads. The sun’s reflection now shines across the sea in a golden, sparkling pathway. Later in the day the glare will be blinding and dark heat haze will still further shroud the dim horizon. UNDER-WATER MONSTERS The coral reefs of Torres Strait and other parts of the far north abound with many kinds of fish that are popularly known as “coral cods” or “rock cods,” although they have no relationship to the true cods. These “cods” are of various sizes, and most of them are brilliantly coloured; they lurk under overhanging coral, or in caverns in the sides of the reefs, and then dart out suddenly upon their unsuspecting prey.

The largest and most dangerous fish of this type is the giant groper, specimens of which have been caught weighing a quarter of a ton, and up to ten feet in length. A predatory, voracious and pugnacious creature, the giant groper is one of the largest true fish in existence, and is the world’s largest man-eating fish. Although the young groper is a pretty fish, being one of the most brilliant of all the gorgeously liveried fish which frequent the northern coral reefs, the adult is by no means an attractive looking fellow. Its bulky body is of a dirty, greyish-black colour, and it has a huge, bull-like head, equipped with a pair of big, saucer-shaped eyes —powerful telescopic organs of a brownish-black colour. The most remarkable feature of the fish, however, is its enormous mouth; its head is nearly all mouth. The “little ships” of the northern waters are, of course, the canoes of the islanders and the “salt water” coastal natives. When a canoe is going to be made, a good straight tree is felled and the required length cut off. The two ends are shaped to points and the inside is removed with adzes, axes and half-axes. In their wild state the blackfellows do this work with stone axes and fires. It can be understood that this primitive method takes a great deal of time, but to these people time is na object. Two boys, armed with the white man’s tools, can complete a canoe in seven or eight days. The work of getting it to the water does not present any difficulty, as long as plenty of labour is available. The craft is rolled over and over. Where-that method cannot be used, on account of timber being in the way, the vessel is dragged. Milk-wood canoes are very easy to paddle, but will not last more than two or three years; the wood soon starts to decay. Paper-bark trees make craft that will last for years. This timber is very heavy, and making a canoe with it is a hard job. It is necessary to give the boats a good coat of tar at least once a year. This will prolong their lives indefinitely. Paper-bark has one failing; it is apt to sink if capsized, especially if loaded up with any cargo.