Pearl hunting
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Pearl hunting or pearl diving refers to a now largely obsolete method of retrieving pearls from oysters. Before the beginning of the 20th century, the only means of obtaining pearls was by searching through oysters manually opened and found at random on the ocean floor or on lake or river bottoms. Free-divers were often forced to descend to depths of over 100 feet on but a single breath, exposing them to dangers of sharks, jellyfish and drowning. Often, because of these dangers, divers were slaves or of low social status (which is also true of many fisherfolk around the world). Because of the difficulty of diving and the unpredictable nature of natural pearl growth in oysters, pearls of the time were extremely rare and of varying quality.
Whilst many pearls in Asia could be found on shoals at a depth of 5-7 feet from the surface, more often than not divers had to go 40 feet or even up to 125 feet deep to find the oysters, which was extremely hazardous for the divers. In the 19th century, divers in Asia had only very basic forms of technology to aid their survival at such depths. For example, in some areas, they greased their bodies to conserve heat, put greased cotton in their ears, wear a tortoise-shell clip to close their nostrils, and have a wide mouthed basket or net to hold the oysters. [1]
For thousands of years, most seawater pearls were retrieved by divers working in the Indian Ocean, in areas like the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and in the Gulf of Mannar (between Sri Lanka and India). Pearl divers near the Philippines were also successful at harvesting large pearls, especially in the Sulu Archipelago. In fact, pearls from the Sulu Archipelago were considered the "finest of the world" which were found in "high bred" shells in deep, clear, and rapid tidal waters. At times, the largest pearls belonged by law to the sultan, and selling them could result in the death penalty for the seller. However many made it out of the archipelago in stealth ending up in the possession of the wealthiest families in Europe. [2]
In a similar manner as in Asia, Native Americans harvested pearls from lakes and rivers like the Ohio, Tennessee, and Mississippi, while others successfully retrieved marine pearls from the Caribbean and waters along the coasts of Central and South America.
Today, pearl diving has largely been supplanted by cultured pearl farms, which use a process developed by Japanese entrepreneur Kokichi Mikimoto. Particles implanted in the oyster encourage the formation of pearls, and allow for more predictable production. Today's cultured pearl industry produces millions of high quality pearls every year.
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[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Live report on diving practices by Catelle in "the Pearl"
- ^ Streeter's Pearls and pearling life dedicates a chapter to the Sooloo islands. Streeter was one of the leading and most influential English jewelers in the 19th century and outfitted his own Schoener the Shree-Pas-Sair which he sailed as well and on which he himself went pearl fishing in 1880. (See for illustration of divers on Schoener Pearl fishers obtaining the world's best pearls. Streeter furthermore led a consortium to compete with Baron Rothschild to lease Ruby mines in Burma.
[edit] See also
- Fijiri - vocal music of the Arabian pearl diver.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- Ganter, Regina. (1994). The Pearl-Shellers of Torres Strait: Resource Use, Development and Decline, 1860s-1960s. Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0-522-84547-9.
- George Frederick Kunz: Book of the Pearl (G.F. Kunz was America's leading gemologist and worked for Tiffany's in the beginning of the 20th century)
